XIII (Revamped)
by Lelouch of the Rebellion
Summary: On a night filled with blood, a child with blond hair and sapphire eyes had felt true despair. His childhood, his innocence, his memories of those events... all shattered. That boy was Jaune Arc. However, he was then taken in by the Jaeger Program. A program designed to train the ultimate hunters. Jaune became its 13th and final member. 13 children...13 hunters...13 assassins.
1. Chapter 1

XIII

Dreams…

Why do people blindly chase after their dreams? Is it to escape their reality to become something more in their fantasies?

Dreams are simply illusions self created by those who are unable to face reality. Yet even with this knowledge people still blindly follow their dreams. Why? Why do they cling to an unattainable goal?

Or perhaps it is possible… to make a dream become reality.

Perhaps **that** **child** can do it. Perhaps **he** can create a miracle to achieve his dream.

Or **destroy** everything in his path in order to chase after his self created illusion.

* * *

A simple boy of the age of 7 with a dream to become a hero… to become someone who could protect the innocent… to become someone his family would be proud of. That dream driven boy was currently listening to his loving father tell him tales of heroism in a luxurious room that was filled with posters of great huntsmen and huntresses.

The young boy was under the covers of his white bed listening to his father who was sitting beside him, the bangs of his unkempt blond hair barely above his ocean blue eyes. His father with similar hair and eyes was currently finishing one of his many stories.

"So after initiation we were grouped together and the headmaster gave us the name of our team." The older blond said ready to wrap up the story.

"What was it?" The young boy asks with excitement evident in his voice.

The father of the young boy was scratching the back of his head in an embarrassing manner. "Well… the name chosen wasn't really to our liking. But it grew on us as time went on."

"Just tell me dad!"

"Alright, alright… our team name was ORGQ (Ogre) happy now?"

Silence

The young boy began to stare at his father confused if he was serious. Why would anyone name a team something so ridiculous? But the silence answers the young boy's question… the answer making him laugh hysterically.

"THAT'S SUCH A STUPID NAME!" His laughter continues and echoes through the entire house.

The older blond starts pouting despite him being the father. "Come on it wasn't my idea to name it that!" Despite his words the kid's laughter increases in volume.

However the laughter soon dies down, both the blonds sensing a dark and ominous aura. Black aura leaking through the cracks of the bedroom door, when it opens ever so slightly more of the terrifying aura began to seep in. Crimson eyes were then seen from the pitch black darkness from the small opening.

"Oh no…" The older blond began.

"It's…" The boy was about to finish.

The door bursts open revealing the one person the two blonds both feared the most… and loved the most.

A beautiful woman with raven hair and amethyst eyes enters the room. Her skin was as pale as the moon that radiated beauty and perfection. Upon her flawless face was a sweet smile. However, contrasting her beauty was the sinister purple aura that was emitted by her.

"Rohan… I believe its Jaune's bedtime so why don't we call it night…" Her black aura creeps towards Jaune and Rohan causing the two blonds to lose color to their face.

Rohan jumps out of bed bowing his head in apology. "YES MA'AM!"

Rohan runs past his wife scared for his life leaving a terrified Jaune. The young blonde's mother walks towards his bed and takes a seat. The moment she sits her frightening demeanor disappears in favor of a more loving and innocent persona.

"Jaune it's time to go to bed." She has her hand on top of her pride and joy's head. The simple act of affection brings a warm feeling inside Jaune's chest. His fear vanishes and turns into affection his bright blue eyes radiating life at the sight of his kind mother.

"Can you tell me a story first?"

Jaune's mother giggles for a few moments before saying the very words Jaune was hoping to hear.

"Oh alright, I'll tell you about my time in Beacon. Well to begin with my team was known as ETRL (Eternal)…

* * *

After the story his mother starts tucking him in. While she was doing this he kept asking himself the same question over and over again until he finally let the words escape his mouth.

"Will I ever be a hero like you and Dad?"

His mother responds with warm laughter. "If that's what you really want to do when you grow up. I'm sure you'll be a hunter unlike anyone else has ever seen." She kisses his forehead after tucking him in. "Good night my little angel." She walks out of his room, her husband that she had scared moments ago outside waiting for her.

"Should we really encourage him to be a hunter, Elizabeth? I'd prefer him to be safe from danger." The now identified Elizabeth sighs but then has an amusing smile.

"Usually the mother would have that line." She says with an amused expression. "Rohan if our son wants to be a hunter then that is his decision. Neither yours nor mine, he alone can make that decision. And no matter what he chooses we should and will give him our support no matter what."

Rohan smiles in agreement. "I suppose you're right."

Elizabeth giggles and gives the man she loves a quick kiss on the cheek "When am I ever wrong?"

The blond knight chuckles remembering all too well. "Good point." He said in amusement.

The Arc family was truly a happy family.

* * *

But the happy times could never last. On Jaune's 8th birthday his childhood was ruined. He along with his loving parents was attacked by the creatures of Grimm. His parents protected him from harm. They did so with their lives. The trauma of those events caused Jaune's memory of the event to become distorted and shattered, the only fragment of his memory that he can recall, was a hellish fire all around him.

* * *

In the headmaster office of Beacon Professor Ozpin was having his midnight coffee looking through documents only the sound of the gears in his office turning can be heard.

However, Glynda Goodwitch barges in with a look of shock and pain. Ozpin simply looks up from the documents with a blank expression. "What is it Glynda? I'm looking through."

"Rohan and Elizabeth are dead!" The moment she utters these words the headmaster of Beacon was simply stunned. And for the first time in years Ozpin felt despair, hopelessness and sadness.

Ozpin looks at a single picture while tears threatened to fall. A picture that would usually brighten is heart and gives him such joy. But now… it was almost too painful to look at.

The image of four teenagers was present. A teen with white hair and green attire similar to his with a few pieces of black armor present was in the middle left having an annoyed expression. The cause for the annoyance being the blond teen right next to him with his arm wrapped around his neck, wearing a black jacket, gray undershirt with pants that were the same shade of gray. White shoulder guards, forearm guards and kneeguards were also on.

It was Ozpin and Rohan in their Beacon days.

On the far left was Glynda in her younger years. Her light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her bright green eyes filled with life looking at the two boys next to her. She was wearing an outfit identical to what she was currently wearing save for the purple shoulder guards and other accessories she has on.

On the far right was a teenager with long black hair (similar to Ren's save for the magenta streak) wearing a combat trench coat of the same color with a black shirt underneath the coat. Silver shoulder guards and gauntlets of the same color were present. The teen's silver eyes were looking at the two boys in the middle in a bored manner. Around his neck was a necklace with a silver cross.

The four teens in the picture were the members of team OGRQ. Their former leader was currently looking at his teammates... his friends... his family, with sad eyes.

"What of Jaune? Is he okay?" Ozpin asks the question in a hush voice.

"He's in the hospital at this very moment. He's unconscious so we should make haste so we can be with him when he wakes up." Ozpin nods in agreement and they leave Beacon to board a dust plane.

* * *

After about a 30 minute plane ride they arrive at the city. They made sure to get to the hospital with deliberate speed.

They arrive at the hospital and quickly ask the nurse with orange hair for Jaune Arc. The nurse directs them to Jaune's room. When they enter they were met with no one. Jaune wasn't there. Ozpin quickly looks towards the nurse "Where is he?"

"I don't know. He was here last time I checked." The nurse was honest with her words. And knowing that asking her more questions wouldn't solve anything Ozpin and Glynda leave the hospital to

Afterwards Ozpin and Goodwitch were both outside the hospital, both distraught over the disappearance of the son of their former teammate and friend.

"Where could he have gone?" Ozpin questioned, with Glynda also questioning the disappearance of the boy.

"Do you think he left the hospital on his own?" The blonde beauty asked despite already knowing the answer.

The headmaster of Beacon directs his attention towards Glynda. "Unlikely. He's only eight so if he were to have awakened he would have remained in his room."

"Perhaps I can shine some light on the situation." Ozpin and Glynda sharply turn to see the person who spoke. It was a man with a black coat with his hood up to cover his face. He continues. "Would you like to see him?"

Ozpin narrows his eyes at the hooded figure while his partner questions the man. "And how would you know where Jaune is?" She says while readying her riding crop for battle.

The hooded man gestured towards a limo. "I know because I am the one who took him. So if you wish to see the boy then I suggest you come with me." The professors eye the man suspiciously. However, wanting to see Jaune they comply… for now.

* * *

They enter the limo and after some time arrive at a facility with countless guards. The moment they enter the facility the Schnee company logo graces them. The symbol of the Schnee family on countless crates and other pieces of equipment.

The hooded man who was seated in front of Ozpin and Glynda speaks. "Welcome to our facility. As you can see the Schnee company is our investor." The two hunters didn't speak.

The car stops and they exit walking through the facility full of dust powered machinery. After a while they arrive in front of a double door with the Schnee company logo on it. The hooded man types in a pass code and the door opens revealing a sleeping Jaune Arc on a white bed. Ozpin with Glynda next to him walk to the sleeping child to make sure he was okay. The room they enter was pure white where the Schnee logo was on each wall.

Despite the relief that the two teammates felt they kept their emotions in check. "Good, he's okay." Ozpin said.

The man in black steps forward. "He will be fine. This child is quite remarkable… to be able to use his aura at such a young age to destroy the Grimm that killed his parents."

Ozpin and Glynda were shocked by this revelation. Glynda voices her disbelief while maintaining an icy glare at the man. "How can that be? A child can't utilize their aura for combat at such a young age. Even if a child were able to they would die from its usage."

"But Jaune is no normal child. He is… special." The hooded man replies with both interest and amusement.

Ozpin narrows his eyes at the man. "Are you really implying that Jaune was able to use his aura?"

"I wouldn't lie about something like this. However neither I nor my men saw this spectacle. We only felt the aura that he generated, and it was vast."

Though they were quite surprised they didn't show it. "Perhaps we should take this outside." Ozpin said. The hooded man agrees and the three individuals leave Jaune to continue his slumber.

* * *

Ozpin and Glynda were in front of white double doors. On each door was the Schnee emblem. They enter the room and see a man in his early thirties seated. He has snow white hair with light blue eyes resembling ice that look over at the hunters. "Hello Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch. I'm sorry for the inconvenience we've caused you and the boy. But I'm afraid it was for the best."

Ozpin looks at him suspiciously. Despite whom the powerful man in front of him was he didn't care. "And what would Kalte Schnee… owner and head of the Schnee Company want with a child?"

The now identified Kalte Schnee looks down on his desk for a moment before responding. He was contemplating what to tell the two powerful individuals in front of him. With a look of determination he answers the headmaster. "To enter him into the Jeager Program."

"Would you like to enlighten us on what this Jeager Program is?" Glynda said with a hint of anger in her voice. Her sharp gaze maintained on the two potential enemies.

Before Kalte could speak the hooded man answers. "It is a program with the purpose of training gifted children to become **true** hunters."

Ozpin and Glynda were surprised by the answer given to what this Jeager Program is. Ozpin further questions the purposes for this program. "Why would you want to train children at such a young age. The age required to start an education as a hunter is 12. Jaune is four years too young to start training."

The man in black replies to Ozpin. "True, but with the Jeager program he can be trained to become a perfect killer. You see, children's minds are more acceptable to knowledge given to them. Teaching a child how to kill engraves the muscle memory and the mentality of it all at a faster rate."

"Why would you want to train children to become monsters?" Glynda asks obviously disgusted by the idea.

"In order to kill a monster you have to become one yourself."

"Monster?" The very mention of the word being tied to children brought almost uncontrolable rage to Glynda and Ozpin. 'Almost' being the key word. If they were to ensure Jaune's safety then they would need to keep calm and analyze the situation accordingly. So they remained calm and steadfast.

He continues speaking. "We already have twelve children ready. Jaune will be our 13th and final member. He will be XIII in the program." Ozpin and Glynda were both mortified by the idea. They didn't want Jaune to enter something so immoral, to become a monster. Something that would tarnish the memory of his parents.

Kalte as if somehow reading their minds speaks in hopes of easing their minds. "Jaune won't become a monster. The purpose of this program is to train these talented children into the best huntsmen and huntresses in the world. These children will become the symbol of hope for the world. They will inspire others and-"

"But they're children!" Ozpin intervened, not evoking any of the anger he was feeling. "That is what our schools are for. To train those who are both willing and ready for such a daunting responsibility. You've abducted children against their free will and plan on training them when they're not ready."

Despite his words though he does the unthinkable. "However, it's obvious that we won't be able to convince you to change your minds. So I won't force you to stop. Besides, even if we were to use force. It would only make the situation worse."

They hear a chuckle filled with amusement. The source of the deep laughter was from the man in black.

"So you caught on as to why I took you and Ms. Goodwitch to our facility."

Ozpin narrows his eyes at the man. "Indeed. If Glynda and I were to start a commotion we would most certainly lose in the end."

Glynda looks at her partner with unwavering eyes. She too knew the reason for Ozpin's statement.

Ozpin continues. "If we were to battle it would bring attention over to us and force the police to act. And given Mr. Schnee's reputation they would most likely take your side over ours. Even if we're Hunter Saints, Archibald Schnee has more authoriy than us."

Ozpin narrows his eyes at the white haired entrepreneur. "However, if that child is harmed in anyway I won't keep myself as composed as I am now. That boy... he is the legacy of the Arc family."

Kalte shows no care and instead smiles "I promise you. No harm with befall the boy. But I was actually going to let you watch over him. He'll live with you but he'll still participate in the Jeager Program. How does that sound?" Ozpin was indeed surprised at this offer. He expected them to take Jaune away from them.

"I accept" was all Ozpin said.

Kalte stands up to shake Ozpin's hand but he made no move to return the gesture. None the less Kalte still smiles. "Then we're in agreement. You can take Jaune with you now if you'd like."

Ozpin nods his head "I would very much like that. Glynda it's time we leave with Jaune."

Kalte then speaks as they're leaving."I'll unlock the door to Jaune's room from here." They leave the room to go back to Jaune.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Professor?" Glynda asks voicing her concern.

Ozpin didn't like the idea but it was their only option if they want to keep an eye on Jaune. They arrive in front of sleeping boy's room. "It's all we can do." They enter the room to take the sleeping child with them.

* * *

First comes destruction…

Drifting into nothingness, that was what Jaune was doing in his dream. All he could remember was his mother and father eating dinner with him in their small home in their simple village. Jaune couldn't remember anything else after that. But he didn't care at the moment; he was so tired… so very tired. However, his slumber ends when he hears two voices speaking. Reluctantly he wakes up from his slumber… no longer in the dark void.

The two voices he heard were not in fact his parents. Which confused the boy, it was however his father's teammates Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. Jaune remembers them instantly and has a joyous expression.

"Uncle Ozpin, Aunt Glynda why are you in our home? And where's mom and dad?" Ozpin and Glynda frown at the question. This did not go unnoticed by Jaune. His smile fades and has a concerning look. "What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Maybe I can help."

Jaune was always a kind boy placing others before him. It was rare to find that trait in anybody let alone a child.

Ozpin takes a seat that was next to Jaune's bed. "Yes Jaune, Glynda and I are hurt deeply. But I'm afraid it is an injury to the heart."

Jaune only smiles "Don't worry, mom always says that a wound to the heart can be healed by friends and family." His words were moving but did not change the despair they were feeling. For they knew Jaune's loving smile would vanish at the news they were about to give him. Jaune breaks their train of thought. "Uncle Ozpin, Aunt Glynda what is it? You can tell me. I'm sure mom and dad can help."

Ozpin looks at Jaune with sad and tired eyes, eyes that have seen tragedy due to his own mistakes, eyes that held regret for his mistakes. "I'm afraid what I'm about to tell you regards your parents." Jaune looks at him with confusion only for Ozpin to continue. "Jaune you're not home. You are currently residing in my home."

With realization Jaune looks around the room to take in his surroundings. His usual room filled with posters not gracing him. Instead green walls void of decoration was around him.

"Why am I here Uncle? Where are mom and dad?" Jaune asks with worry evident in his voice.

Glynda takes over for Ozpin, sitting on the bed she begins. "Jaune listen to me. Your mother and father are no longer with us. They're…" Glynda pauses not knowing what to say.

The pain of having to tell a young child that his mother and father are gone was something that no one should have to do. To see a child drown in sorrow is a sight unwanted by even the strongest of individuals.

"Aunt Glynda?"

Before Glynda could say anything Ozpin takes charge again. "Glynda we can't hide the truth from him. He deserves to know."

"Know what? What are you guys talking about? I want to talk with mom and dad. Where are they!?" Jaune begins to raise his voice the lack of knowledge about his parents beginning to upset him.

Ozpin places his hands on Jaune's shoulders. "Jaune… what I'm about to tell you might change you. But you deserve to know. Elizabeth and Rohan, your mother and father… are gone, they're dead Jaune. You were all attacked by the creatures of Grimm. Your parents protected you but they died doing so."

Dead?

Jaune's mind went numb. Was he dreaming? Was this all just a nightmare? Is this feeling of anguish real? '_This has to be dream' _he thought. Wake up… wake up… please wake up.

There was no wisp of relief… there was only an abyss of sorrow.

A single drop hits the covers of his bed. Then more fell… tears that are heavy and warm "What do you mean? They can't be gone!" He raised his voice at that last part. He continues still crying his heart out "They're heroes! Heroes don't die!"

Jaune suddenly embraces the old hunter, his head to his chest, his tears wetting Ozpin's shirt. But he didn't care, he has comforted children before throughout his time as a hunter.

"Jaune I am so sorry. But I'm afraid that even heroes die. That is reality, Jaune."

Jaune starts speaking again "It's not fair… it's not fair." Glynda looks away, not wanting to see the now broken child. But she did not cry, she along with Ozpin was indeed in despair. But crying now would only make matters worse for the boy. So they had to be strong for Jaune. The time for their tears would come soon enough.

"I know Jaune, I know." Jaune keeps crying while Ozpin tightens his embrace. "Jaune listen to me. You have to calm down. Your mother and father wouldn't want you to cry. They would want you to move on."

Jaune shakes his head no. "I don't want them to be gone! I DON'T WANT TO MOVE ON!"

The crack of skin contacting skin echoes through the room.

Jaune's right cheek was bright red feeling a painful sting while Ozpin's hand was the same color as Jaune's right cheek.

Jaune looks at Ozpin with his eyes widen, tears still flowing down. Glynda looked at the poor boy with a solemn look. She knew why her old teammate did what he had. But she didn't approve of it.

After silencing the young Arc, Ozpin speaks. "Jaune if you don't move on you'll only drown in despair. Think about what your parents would want. They would want you to live a life fulfilling your dreams."

Jaune opens his mouth to retort but was stopped by Ozpin.

"Don't tarnish their memory by crying over them for the rest of your life."

Jaune was speechless, thinking about his uncle's words, he finally speaks though starting to understand his words. "You want me to let them go?"

Ozpin shakes his head no. "I'm not telling you to let them go. I'm telling you to move on, to live for them." Ozpin was calm when he says these words but yet they held such power and conviction.

Jaune notices despite his young age, and despite not wanting to stop his cries he did so. "Is that what they really want?" Ozpin nods his head. "Then… then I'll move on. I'll become a hunter for them. I'll become a hero for them! And I'll… I'll…" his teary eyes now held malice and determination. "I'll kill the Grimm! I'll kill every last one of them!" His voice held higher volume at that last statement.

Glynda has a look of worry. She wasn't sure if allowing Jaune to make such a rash decision was best for his safety. "Jaune are sure you want to be a hunter?" Glynda walks up to the bed and holds his hand with her own pale hands. "Jaune your parents would want you to be safe."

Ozpin looks at Glynda with a knowing look. "Glynda, you and I both know that Rohan and Elizabeth would want him to do what he wants. If he desires be a hunter then that is his decision."

"And I do want to be a hunter Aunt Glynda." Jaune added.

Glynda who was still holding Jaune's hand sighs "If that's what you really Jaune then I won't stop you. I support you on your decision. Ozpin included."

Ozpin then mentions a certain program. "Jaune if you want to start your hunter training then I'm afraid there is only one option. You will have to be a part of the Jaeger Program." Jaune looks at Ozpin in confusion.

"Jaeger Program?"

* * *

3 days later

Jaune was in front of the same facility he was at before along with Ozpin and Glynda. Jaune looks at the building in awe. "So cool" Ozpin and Glynda walk to the building and Jaune follows after them.

They enter the facility and the first person they meet is the man in black. "Welcome back Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch and of course Jaune Arc." Jaune was a little scared of the man. He was wearing a black coat and had his hood hides his face. He continues despite the look of fear Jaune has. "Oh where are my manners? My name is Gilbert Klein." He removes his hood. He's obviously a man in his late 30s and has short black hair with dark brown eyes. "And I am the director of the Jaeger Program. Which means I'm your teacher." he smirks "So I do hope we can get along."

Jaune tugs on Ozpin's sleeve motioning him to kneel down so he could tell him something. Ozpin does so and Jaune whispers to him "I have a bad feeling about him."

Ozpin nods. "You and me both."

They enter Kalte Schnee's room where he was currently talking to someone on his scroll. He notices them.

"Oh I'm sorry Winter I have to go. Goodnight. Oh and make sure Weiss goes to bed."

He ends the call and addresses his guests. "It's nice to meet you, Jaune. I'm Kalte Schnee and I'm the one who funds the Jeager Program. But you won't see me too much. Now I'm sure Ozpin and Glynda have informed you of the Jaeger Program. So I'm going to tell you now. The training you will be put through will be quite strenuous."

Jaune looks at Kalte with sad and tired eyes "I figured that. But I want to do this. I want…" He stops himself rethinking the words he would soon say. "I need power."

Gilbert smirks at Jaune's words.

Kalte smiles "I see, well I'm happy to tell you that your training will begin in a week. You'll still live with Ozpin while training with the other 12 members." He then looks over to his assistant. "Gilbert, could you take over?"

"But of course. I am his teacher so it's only natural that I tell him." He looks over at Jaune with a smirk on his face. "You will learn how to fight and kill the creatures of Grimm in a classroom and in time you will learn on a more… hands on approach. You will learn how to manifest and control your aura. The properties of dust and how to use it, and most importantly, you'll forge your own weapon."

Jaune wasn't overwhelmed by the training regimen; no he was determined to start. He would become a hunter unlike anyone before him. He would do it for his family. "I'm ready to begin training."

Gilbert smirks "Are you now? Well if you truly are then let me ask you something. Do you desire to become a hunter for the benefit of others? Or is it for revenge?"

Jaune thinks about the words told to him for a moment before giving Gilbert his answer. Glynda, Ozpin and Kalte were waiting patiently for Jaune's answer. Jaune looks at Gilbert with unwavering conviction.

"It doesn't matter what my reason is. The end result will be the same. Because killing the creatures Grimm will result in the protection of others. It's simply the same thing the other way around. By protecting others I destroy those monsters." His final words hold malice and contempt as he says this.

Gilbert walks up to the boy and ruffles his hair. "Good answer. You and I will get along just fine."

Glynda looks at Jaune with neutrality, but in reality she was worried for the boy. She didn't want Jaune to go through rigorous training at such a young age. However, she stays silent knowing that she wouldn't be able to sway the boy.

Ozpin coughs slightly to get everyone's attention. "If I may, since Jaune is training in the Jaeger program is it possible for Glynda and I to add on to his training?" Glynda looks at Ozpin with widen eyes. Gilbert only has a bored expression not really caring what Ozpin does. Kalte was deep in thought about Ozpin's proposal.

Kalte finally replies. "I'm afraid that is up to Gilbert. He's the one who will be training them."

Gilbert sighs. "Do what you want. All I care about is making these kids stronger to eliminate the Grimm. Just don't get in my way." Ozpin simply nods. Gilbert makes his way out. "See you later… XIII."

Jaune doesn't say anything to the man as he leaves. Jaune then looks over to Ozpin and Glynda. "Uncle Ozpin. I'm ready to go home."

Jaune holds his lips due to his own words. Knowing that he wasn't going home, but to a different house. No longer will he be able to talk with his mother or father. No more stories from the two most important people in his life. All that awaits him… is nothing.

"I mean back to your house." He corrects himself.

Ozpin simply nods, and escorts the young boy out of the facility.

* * *

Ozpin, Glynda and Jaune were in the back seat of luxurious black limousine, Ozpin and Glynda seated right next to each other with Jaune facing them. They were silent for most of the trip back home but Ozpin clears his throat getting their attention.

When Jaune looks at his new caretaker he sees an affectionate smile. However, the affection that the boy sensed was forced. Not the affection but the smile itself. "What is it Uncle?"

"Jaune, I didn't want to say anything when we were in the facility. But in regards to you coming home." Jaune has a puzzled expression not understanding where the hunter clad in green was going with this. But his confusion ceases when he hears the next words uttered. "You are coming home. You and I are a family now. Which means my home is your home."

Glynda smiles as well. "And if you ever want to stay with me then just ask. I know how insufferable Ozpin can be.

Jaune's eyes glue to his god parents. The sight of their smiles bringing him warmth, warmth that only his parents were able to provide. He couldn't contain himself any longer. For the rest of his life he would no longer be with his loving parents. Yet…in front of him were two individuals who showed such affection that only a loved one can offer. Even though he wasn't their child he felt like he was at this very moment. So it was only natural for his eyes to convey unwavering happiness. This happiness causes his lips to quiver, his eyes to become glassy with fresh tears threatening to fall. "Thank you…" He whispered.

Ozpin and Glynda hear his hushed words. They remain silent though believing that there was no need to reply. But what came next was truly a surprise to Glynda and even the all knowing Ozpin.

"Thank you so much." His eyes are flooded, the tears he was withholding all rushing out. The simple act of kindness that was displayed before him... it was all he needed to have a hint of happiness.

He lunges from his seat, capturing his god parents in a thankful and loving embrace. "I love you... I love you both so much!" He exclaimed, his tears still falling. The embrace caught them off guard. Ozpin and Glynda were unsure of what to do. They never raised children, they didn't even think about finding a significant other to start a family. But with the young boy hugging them, sharing his joy and peace of mind they couldn't help but say their next words, all while returning the hug he graced them with.

"We love you too... Jaune."

* * *

What path will this boy tread?

Will he find love that will fill the void left by his beloved parents? Love that can transcend even time?

Or…

Will he continue to hate? Will his hatred for the monsters that brought ruin to his perfect world lead to hatred for the world?

...

Will he become a guardian… a defender for those without power? Will he save every life to the best of his abilities?

Or…

Will he become an avenger? Will he reap the lives of those horendous monsters rather than save a life?

...

Will he be the symbol of an angel? Will he provide a shining beacon of hope for those around him?

Or…

Will he be the symbol of a Demon? Will he spread the despair he himself feels to those around him… be it the monsters he has sworn to kill… or the friends and loved ones he will meet?

Only time will tell.

This is a story about a boy who has lost everything. His name is Jaune Arc and…

**XIII**

* * *

Now many of you who have already read my story are probably agitated that I've decided to re-write my chapters instead of continuing on. I understand your frustration but I want you all to know that I want to improve on what I have done in the past. Now this revamped version isn't going to be me starting from scratch. I'm simply adding and improving on what was wrong with my older chapters. I hope you'll understand and that it won't prevent you from following or giving this version a favorite.

For those of you who are new readers then here is some information for you all to know.

Kalte: Means cold in German. So Kalte Schnee means Cold Snow.

Jaeger: Means hunter in German. So the Jaeger program is the hunter program.

So tell me if you liked the start up and the concept. Now if you think you won't be able to enjoy the story then I understand. However, I would appreciate it if you would all give the story a chance before casting it aside. You might actually enjoy the story.

Remember to review if you have any suggestions or concerns you may have for the story. If you like the story then I'll truly be happy. As long as even a single individual enjoys my story then I'm doing something right.


	2. Act I: XIII at the Shining Beacon

Act I

9 years…

9 long years have passed since that night. In those 9 years Jaune... XIII trained to become an outstanding hunter. And during those years of training he made friends with his fellow members.

They were all killers and had no hesitation to kill. But they were still children, and children often form bonds with those their age.

But it doesn't change the most important fact about the Jaeger Program. Not only were they children and hunters in training…

They were also assassins.

* * *

The dull gray metallic training room was littered with disassembled AK-130 Androids. In the center of this destruction was a blonde teenager with beautiful ocean eyes. He was wearing clothing consisting of black pants with a black belt that had a large silver buckle, a black V-necked shirt that was worn underneath a black trench-coat with gray lining going down the sleeves and black boots with silver plates to protect his shins and a pair of black fingerless gloves.

Despite the destruction of the large amounts of androids Jaune was weaponless.

"Looks like my daily warm-up is finished, and in record time." The blonde teenager says in a boorish manner. He leaves the training room.

When he leaves the boring gray room Ozpin greets him with a smile.

"You finished in record time." Ozpin places his hand on Jaune's shoulder in congratulations. "You've gotten stronger, Jaune."

Jaune smiles at the man who has taken care of him for so many years. "Thanks Uncle, but I couldn't have done it without you and the Jaeger Program."

"And where is my gratitude Mr. Arc" Jaune looks to where the origin of the voice was and it was Glynda with a knowing look. "Well?"

Jaune laughs "Sorry Aunt Glynda" He bows slightly "Thank you for all your help."

Glynda sighs "Jaune don't bow, it was a pleasure training you." Glynda looks at Ozpin and clears her throat "Ozpin I believe there's something you need to show to Jaune.

"I was getting to that." Ozpin motions Jaune to follow him. Jaune does so, he and Glynda following Ozpin to his studies.

Ozpin's house was grand with the modeled knights rowed together. The red colored walls with golden scrollwork adding to the look of sophistication.

"So what is it that you wish to show me?" Jaune has his hands in his pockets.

They reach red double doors and open them. It reveals Ozpin's office that was just as nice at the rest of his home. Ozpin looks back at Jaune. "Something that your father would want you to have." They enter the room and Jaune was indeed curious and a little anxious to know what it was that Ozpin was going to show him. Ozpin sits down on his chair and takes a brief case out. On the case the Arc family crest was on it.

Jaune looks at the case in anticipation "What's in the case?"

Ozpin looks at Jaune for a moment before responding and the looks at the case. "Like you it is a legacy of your family." Ozpin opens the case and inside was a white sheath which is directly below a sword. The handle of the sword is wrapped with blue material. Jaune looks the contents of the case not knowing what to say.

"Its name is Crocea Mors. This belonged to your great-great- grandfather, or so your father told me." He smiles at the memory. However, despite how pleasant the memory was his smile was filled with pain. "It also belonged to him. And it's now yours."

Jaune gently touches the blade. "My father used this? And you're giving it to me?"

Glynda joins the conversation. "It never belonged to us Jaune. Crocea Mors was always meant for you. We were only taking care of it until you were ready."

Jaune looks at Glynda with curiosity. "Ready for what?"

Ozpin answers the question "For you to enter my school." He stands from his chair and takes his hand out. "Jaune Arc I am proud to announce your enrollment in Beacon."

Jaune stands up to shake Ozpin's hand, a smile on his face. "Thank you Uncle, this means a lot."

Ozpin returns the smile "I know it does. And I'm happy that you're going to my school. Now get ready. You'll be leaving today."

Jaune bows slightly and runs out of the room to go to his room. Jaune was excited to finally go to his uncle's school. He was ready when he graduated from the Jaeger Program but Ozpin insisted that he train for another two years. Jaune complained at first but knew his uncle only wanted the best for him.

Ozpin, who was still looking at the open door where Jaune ran off to, was still smiling about Jaune's entry into Beacon. It was a smile that radiated unwavering joy. This did not go unnoticed by Glynda.

"I haven't seen you smile like that in quite some time." Ozpin looks back at his fellow professor with a curious expression. She continues. "It's nice, to say the least."

Ozpin's eye brow rises at her statement "I see, well I'll make it a point to smile more often. Now enough about that… is Ruby Rose on her way to the dust plane."

Glynda now has business like expression. "Yes, she should be there now in fact. Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious if she and Jaune will get along." Ozpin walks out of his studies. Glynda sighs and follows her old teammate.

* * *

Jaune was in his room packing for Beacon. The case that the twin pistols were in was opened. Jaune examines his handy work and smiles.

"Ebony and Ivory" Jaune says in a hush voice.

Ebony was the black pistol that was directly below its white twin. Both pistols are in fact identical in their appearances. The handguns resemble Desert Eagles, with stylized grips twisting into sharp points. Near the bore of the pistols were engravings of scrollwork. They also sport a ring hammer.

Jaune diverts his attention over to one of his other creations.

This was truly a work of art in his opinion. It was a long sword; the blade moonlight white. The handle wrapped in a white material. Its hilt was similar to that of a rapier's. Both sides of the hilt were in the form of silver wings. Under one of the silver wings was a curved silver wing that goes down and connects to the base of the hilt giving it the resemblance of a rapier. Another thing to note about the base of the hilt was the white chain that connects to it. At the end of the chain was a single golden arc. In the center of the hilt was a single white crystal that shines holy light.

The holy white sword completely contrasts with Jaune's black clothing. Yet even so they match perfectly with one another. Jaune places the sword in the sheath that's on his back. "Time to go" Was all Jaune says before leaving.

Jaune walks outside meeting with Ozpin and Glynda. The dust powered car was ready. However, it was only a two seated car. "Um, where do I sit?"

Ozpin chuckles while Glynda sighs in agitation.

"Jaune I'm afraid you're not coming with us. You'll be on a dust plane with the rest of the students. But we'll take your bags." Before Jaune could protest Ozpin and Glynda drive off leaving the poor boy all alone.

Jaune blinks a couple of times. "But I don't know where to go." Suddenly Ozpin sends him a message on his scroll with the instructions on how to get there. The last part read.

'_By the way the plane to Beacon will leave in 10 minutes so I suggest you get a move on. See you at Beacon my boy.' _

Jaune starts twitching his left eye completely stunned that his caretaker would do this.

…

"DAMN YOU OZPIN!" Without a moment's hesitation the aggravated teen runs over to the garage. He quickly rushes inside, a black motorcycle (which is identical to Yang's save for the fact that his is completely black) in front of him. He gets on and puts a black helmet on that conceals his entire head and starts the engine. He speeds off in hopes of making it in time.

* * *

Jaune makes it to the dust plane location. But to his horror the plane was about to take off. The plane was making its way through the run way. "I better hurry!" He accelerates and speeds his way towards the plane. He notices that the plane was about to take off. _'I won't be able to make it unless someone opens the door.' _By some miracle he sees a young girl with black red hair and a red riding hood outfit. He waves at her motioning her to open the door.

* * *

Minutes before Jaune chases after the plane.

Ruby was currently being crushed by her half sister Yang who was two years her senior. "Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"

Ruby pleads to her elder sister in a hush voice. "Please stop."

Yang's excitement for her younger sister was, to say the least was not unchecked. "But I'm so proud of you!"

"Really Sis, it was nothing." Ruby said trying to calm her energetic sister.

"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees.

Ruby expresses her discomfort with the attention stating that "I don't want to be the "bee's knees" okay! I don't want to be any kind of knees. I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees".

"What's with you? Aren't you excited"? Yang asks.

Ruby replies with a sad tone. "Of course I'm excited… I just… I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

Yang wraps around her younger sister's shoulder to try and comfort her. "But you are special."

Ruby decides to look out the window to hopefully clear her head. But she didn't expect to see some random guy in black clothes riding a motorcycle of the same color.

Now Ruby Rose has seen and done crazy and odd things before. Like taking out a pack of Beowolves all by herself, fighting off armed robbers, one of them being Roman Torchwick one of the most notorious criminals in Vale.

But this had to top everything she's ever done or seen. Right now at this moment she's looking at a stranger riding a motorcycle chasing the dust plane she was on. That said stranger was motioning her to do something.

"Yang, you better come and see this."

Yang looks at her sister. "What is it little sis?" Ruby motions her to look out the window. Yang does so and her eyes widen at the sight. "Oh, well that's something you don't see every day."

Ruby looks at Yang and back to the person on the bike. "Yang what do you think he's trying to tell us?"

Yang shrugs "I don't know, but I have to admit this guy is pretty cool."

Ruby and Yang look at the stranger trying to decipher what he was trying to tell them. Their responses were only shrugs.

* * *

"GOD DAMN IT WOULD YOU OPEN THE DOOR!" Jaune shouts hoping that they would somehow hear him. Of course that didn't work out for him. The dust plane was beginning to ascend and Jaune was running out of time. He sighs knowing he has no choice but to force his way in. He speeds up at a ramp in hopes of trying to make the jump. The Dust plane starts flying off.

"I hope this works." Jaune jumps up from the ramp and is as high as the plane. Jaune redirects himself so his bike his facing the plane. He uses his aura to propel himself at the plane's side, he simultaneously pulls out his handgun Ebony with his left hand and blasts a hole on the side of the plane and enters through there making it inside. Jaune quickly brakes and does a power slide in the plane. All the students watch in awe at the display.

Ruby gets a hit of realization "Oh you meant open the door to the plane."

Jaune mentally face palms.

'_It took all of that for you to understand? Whatever, at least I'm on the plane.' _Jaune removes his black helmet. The moment his flawless face is revealed he hears the blonde brawler voice her approval.

"I'd definitely want to make out with you."

Her flirting did not go unnoticed by the innocent blond. "Excuse me?"

Yang looks at the boy with interest. "I gotta say hot stuff that was impressive."

Jaune was still confused by the girl's words. "Come again."

"Um guys…" The two blondes look at the owner of the voice.

Ruby along with dozens of other students were currently holding on for dear life, due to the threat of being sucked out of the plane because of the hole Jaune created.

"COULD SOMEONE PLEASE FIX THE HOLE!?" Ruby shouts in panic.

It seems like the only ones unaffected by the fierce vacuum were the two blondes.

Jaune walks forth, his body radiating moonlight aura. He brings his left hand forth. Only a second later and the vacuum is no more and Ruby along with the other students fall.

Where the hole once was, was a transparent wall of white aura. The creator of this wall being none other than Jaune Arc.

"Whoa…" Was all Ruby says as she looks at the transparent wall in slight awe.

Jaune smiles. "Now that that's settled we can all enjoy the ride… uh…" Jaune's eyes widen.

"Wait a minute…" Jaune begins sweat pouring down his face out of fear. "We're… we're on… a dust plane…"

"Yeeeeeah." Ruby says with utter confusion. "Is there a problem?"

Growl…

"Oh no!" Jaune covers his mouth with the very same hand used to create the wall, the reason for his action being the unpleasant feeling of his breakfast threatening to be vomited out in his stomach.

Ruby walks up to Jaune "You okay?"

Jaune shakes his head no. "Motion sickness"

Yang laughs. "Wait you mean to tell me you can ride that badass bike without problems but you can't handle a dust plane?

"That's exactly what I'm implying!" He shouts, feeling his stomach about to give out. "Oh god, I hate this so much."

Suddenly a monitor turns on showing Roman Torchwick. A news lady was talking about the said criminal and also went on about the White Fang. _'If I remember correctly __**he's **__a member of the White Fang.__' _

Jaune's train of thought was broken when his stomach growls yet again. "Oh Dust!"

Ruby and Yang leave Jaune alone and walk somewhere else. "Well that was interesting." Yang said with amusement evident in her voice. "Now what was I saying again before vomit boy came in."

"Hey I haven't thrown u- oh god!" Jaune wasn't able to finish when his motion sickness threatens him again.

"Anyways" Yang begins, starting to ignore the fellow blonde.

But before Yang can utter another word Professor Glynda Goodwitch appears as a hologram. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon!"

"Who's that?" Yang asked.

"I am Glynda Goodwitch." She says, as if she magically replied to Yang's question.

"Oh" was Yang's reply.

Glynda continues speaking "You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsman and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world. "

Jaune was paying close attention to Glynda's words despite his motion sickness. But one thought did cross his mind. _'Why the hell did they make me do all this!? God damn it I thought we were supposed to go together!' _Jaune's motion sickness went into overdrive causing Jaune to almost make a fool of himself. _'It's okay Jaune just a bit longer.'_

Ruby's face lightens up with joy "Wow" the sight she was currently witnessing was simply breathtaking to her. "Look, you can see Signal from up here! I guess home isn't too far after all".

Yang smiles and places her hand on Ruby's shoulder "Beacon's our home now."

Jaune didn't necessarily hate the view. He just… didn't like the ride. Jaune kept telling himself _'Just a few more minutes and I can kiss the sweet ground that Monty has blessed me with!' _

However… Monty did not answer his prayers in making it. _'Oh god I'm gonna be sick!' _Jaune runs towards the exit to free fall off the plane. But before he could do so he pukes his breakfast out.

Yang snickers "Well… I guess the view isn't for everyone."

Ruby nods her head in agreement "It was a nice moment while it lasted."

"I wonder who we're going to meet". Yang said curiously.

"I just hope they're better than vomit boy." Ruby responded with.

* * *

Jaune Arc was currently embarrassing himself. How you might ask? Well to answer your question… he's currently refunding his breakfast in the trash can next to the dust plane.

'_I've trained to become a hunter since I was 8. Learning how to execute the Grimm, how to manifest and control my aura, learn the properties of dust and how to use it, and even create my own weapons. Which I might add are my pride and joy. Yet they couldn't teach me how to repress my motion sickness? Why is the world so cruel to me?' _Jaune finally felt better after letting it all go. He quickly goes back in the plane to get his bike.

After getting his bike Jaune gazes at Beacon, his new home. "Wow, it's incredible." Jaune was lost in his thoughts.

'_Mom, Dad, I'm here. I can finally make you both proud.' _Jaune forms a genuine smile and closes his eyes to feel the cool breeze. His blond hair gracefully being blown to the side, his sapphire eyes shut.

Of course… it was all ruined by the noise of an explosion. "What the hell was that?" Jaune goes over to the source of the noise. And to his surprise he sees the girl in red that he met from before in the middle of a lecture. The one giving the lecture is a girl with white hair and ice blue eyes. She's wearing a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. The inside of the bolero is red and the sleeves turn blue as they get closer to her wrists. The bolero has the Schnee crest on the back that bears a resemblance to a snowflake.

Realization hits the blond assassin. "She must be Mr. Schnee's daughter."

"I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby says not wanting to argue with someone on the first day.

The heiress starts insulting Ruby. "Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

Ruby began to stutter "Well… I…"

The heiress continues her verbal assault "This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice you know. We're here to fight monsters! So watch where you're going!"

Jaune narrows his eyes at the girl having enough of her insults. However, before he can intervene a girl with beautiful wavy black hair beats him to it. She wears a black buttoned vest with coattails, and a white, sleeveless undershirt that exposes part of her midriff with white shorts that may be connected to her shirt, although it is partly obscured by the vest. Her shorts have a zipper on the front of each leg, but it is unknown if these zippers serve a purpose or are simply decorative. She also wears a detached scarf-like collar around her neck. But other than her wavy hair, her two most notable features was her black bow and amber eyes.

Ruby finally having enough of her insults retorts "Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!"

"It's heiress actually." The girl in black says in a knowing manner. She continues. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Weiss has a proud smile. "Finally, some recognition!"

The girl in black continues yet again. "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Jaune frowns. _'The same company who funded the Jaeger Program in order to protect innocent people' _

Weiss begins to protest, the girl's words obviously angering her. "How dare-! The nerve of-!" Ruby snickers during Weiss's fit. The said heiress walks away angered by the girl's words.

Ruby calls out to her "I promise I'll make this up to you!" Ruby then says something to herself that was incoherent to Jaune.

She turns around to talk with the girl in black but was already walking off. Ruby sighs and kneels down on the ground to then lie down on her back. "Welcome to Beacon" she says in a hush voice.

Despite how silent her words were Jaune was able to hear them. He smiles, knowing that the girl was in need of a friend. He walks up to the girl and when he is over her he takes his hand out and has a gentle smile. "Hey… I'm Jaune"

Ruby gets off her back and has smiles for a moment before telling him her name "Ruby." When Ruby gets up she recognizes who it was. She has a quick laugh "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

Jaune's eye began to twitch a little _'Really, that's how you remember me.'_

* * *

While walking around the campus Jaune had left his bike by the dust plane so Ozpin could have someone store his bike in a safe place.

Jaune and Ruby walk through Beacon together talking about various subjects. Well mostly about how "Motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" The statement said being in Jaune's own words.

Ruby giggles "Look, I'm sorry; Vomit-Boy was the first thing that came to mind."

"You mean to tell me, that even though I chased down the dust plane for Beacon in my motorcycle, jumped a ramp and redirected myself to then shoot a hole in the plane just to get inside and did a power slide. The first thing that came to your mind when you saw me again was vomit boy?"

Ruby rubs her head "When you put it that way it is kinda stupid. Again, I'm really sorry."

Jaune sighs, but smiles soon after. "It's fine. You don't need to apologize." He places his hand on Ruby's head in a brotherly manner. "Just call me Jaune, okay."

Ruby blushes from Jaune's action which was unnoticed by the said boy. "Okay… Jaune."

Jaune smiles "There, now I don't need to call you crater- face."

Ruby begins to throw a fit waving her arms around. "Hey, that explosion was an accident!"

Jaune laughs "Well I won't call you that so long as you remember my name. Remember, name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!

"Do they?" Ruby questioned.

Jaune chuckles at the girl's response. "I don't know, you tell me."

Ruby giggles at Jaune's sense of humor, somehow repressing a blush to appear. "Well I like it!"

She then thinks about comparing weapons. "So I got this thing." She suddenly pulls out Crescent Rose, the scythe's blade piercing through the concrete leaving a hole in the ground.

Jaune inspects the fine craftsmanship of the weapon. He nods his head in approval. "It's well made. It reminds of- never mind. So a scythe is your weapon of choice?

Ruby smiles at her piece of art known as Crescent Rose. "It's also a customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle."

Jaune looks at the scythe and its wielder with interest. "So it's also a gun."

"It's also a gun." She says while nodding in confirmation.

Wanting to know what her new friend has in his arsenal, she decides to get to know his weapons. "So what've you got?"

"Oh, well I guess it's only natural I show you my equipment since you showed me yours." Jaune's hands go to the back pockets of his black pants which are concealed by his black jacket. He grabs hold of two objects.

In a quick and fluent motion he takes Ebony and Ivory out of their holsters which were in fact located above his back pockets. Ebony in his left while Ivory was in his right.

Ruby looks at the twin pistols in awe. The design of the pistols were simple overall, taking the appearance of desert eagles, the difference being the grips that twist into points, the scrollwork engraving near the bore of the pistols and the use of ring hammers instead of the usual hammer like design. "Can… can I hold it?"

Jaune chuckles "Here" he gives her both Ebony and Ivory causing Ruby to fawn over the handguns.

"They're so heavy which means they pack a huge punch. Not only that but they look really cool with those designs at the end of the barrel of the pistols. The stylized grips are also really cool." She looks at the twisted grips more thoroughly. Her eyes widen at her discovery.

"Wait, there's no magazine release! There's no way for them to be reloaded unless…" Her eyes widen yet again. She looks at the grips a second time, finding her answer in the process.

"You channel your aura through the grips which allow you to fire aura infused rounds!"

Jaune smiles, finding her knowledge of weapons to be impressive. "Good eyes, and you're most certainly right. Ebony and Ivory don't fire normal or dust rounds. By channeling aura to my girls I can fire high powered aura rounds."

"Or you can fire multiple, low powered aura rounds to take out weaker enemies at a fast rate!" Ruby finishes for the maker of Ebony and Ivory. She then catches Jaune's use of the word "girls"

"Girls? Are you referring to these?"

The boy clad in black has another smile. "Yeah, they're my girls after all. By the way, you really know your weapons. I'm impressed, Ruby."

She returns the guns and Jaune puts them in their holsters.

"Now to show you my other weapon." He draws his long sword. The white blade glows a divine light of the same color. "My sword's name is Dark Repulser. Its blade is specially made to be infused with my aura. When I channel my aura through the blade its attack power is greatly enhanced."

Ruby's eyes were glued to the beautiful rapier style sword. "Does it do anything else?"

Jaune sheathes his blade and ruffles the young girl's hair soon after. "It does have other abilities but I'm afraid that I have to keep that a secret."

Ruby's removes his hand and begins to pout. However, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sway him she drops the topic.

She then notices Crocea Mors. "Oh what's that" she points at the heirloom that was strapped to his black belt.

Jaune gets startled at first. He looks at Crocea Mors and gently touches the hilt. A radiant smile that displays pride and joy was present. "This… this is the weapon I'm most proud of."

Ruby tilts her head to the side. "Why's that?"

Jaune draws the sword and turns the sheath into a shield. "Because this belonged to my great-great grandfather…" he looks down on the ground "and my father."

Ruby looks at Jaune in worry. "Jaune, are you okay?"

Jaune's thoughts were interrupted and he smiles hoping to show her that he was fine. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

Ruby looks down at the ground too. "Did… did something happen with your dad?"

Jaune sighs "I'd rather talk about it." Ruby nods her head with understanding. "Thank you… Ruby. And I'm sorry for being so private."

Ruby scratches her head in embarrassment "I'm the one who should apologize. We've just met and I was asking you something really personal. Sorry for bringing up something painful."

Her apologetic smile shifts into one evoking praise. "Oh and about your weapon. Well I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

Jaune ruffles her hair "The classics huh. I like it."

Ruby removes his hand away from her head using both of her hands having a cute blush in the process. "So why'd you help me back there, in the courtyard?"

Jaune follows after her all cheerful again. "Why not? Someone once told me that, "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." Jaune deliberately avoids mentioning his mother. He didn't want to talk about his parents again.

Ruby was deep in thought about Jaune's response "Hmmm… Hey where are we going"? Ruby stops walking to look over at Jaune.

Jaune stops as well to answer her. "Oh, I don't know actually, I was only following you". After a few moments of standing Jaune continues speaking. "You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some sort of recognizable landmark?" Ruby snorts at Jaune's last comment. "Is that a no?"

"That's a no". Was Ruby's response to her first ever friend in Beacon.

* * *

Jaune and Ruby finally make it to the auditorium where all the first year students were supposed to attend. The moment they enter Ruby's elder sister Yang calls out to her. "Ruby, over here! I saved you a spot! "Yang waves at Ruby for her to come over to her.

Ruby delighted to see her sister obliges "Hey I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony"! Ruby runs to her sister.

Jaune waves goodbye to her and cracks a joke to himself "Great, where am I supposed to find a nice quirky girl to talk to"? Jaune walks over to find himself a spot. And little did he know that a girl who matches his description was behind him the whole time.

As Jaune was walking through the crowd, he accidently bumps into a man with long somewhat spiky black hair, his hair ending in a midway ponytail with a magenta streak on the left side of his hair. His eyes matching the streak. The man's clothing seemed to be based on the Eastern culture.

He wears a dark-green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black collar.

This color scheme seems to be influenced to some degree by the lotus flower which was noted by Jaune. He wears a black, long sleeved shirt beneath the suit, and light-tan pants with black shoes.

"Sorry about that." Jaune says in a friendly manner.

"Don't worry about it. Seeing as how this is a big crowd the blame shouldn't be shifted to you." The young man says in a friendly and respectable manner.

Jaune smiles in gratitude "Thank you. My name is Jaune Arc." He takes his hand out so they could shake hands.

The man nods his head "My name is Lie Ren." He accepts the gesture and they have a firm handshake. "It's nice to meet you."

As Jaune was about to further their conversation his vision blackens. The cause being a pair of hands wearing pink fingerless gloves.

"Guess who, Ren!"

"Um... I'm Jaune actually."

Ren sighs. "Nora, you're supposed to cover **my** eyes and say that."

The girl identified as Nora glances curiously at her childhood friend.

"Oh... okie dokie Ren!" She removes herself from the confused blond, allowing him to have his vision back. He looks behind him, giving him a full view of her.

Her clothing seems to be a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wears a collared black vest that ends at her waist. Her signature symbol, a hammer with a lightning bolt, can be found on the back. Under the vest are two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively.

She also wears a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm. She wears matching fingerless gloves on each hand. She sports a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh. Her shoes are a mix of pink and white with pink laces, and display her symbol on their soles.

She also seems to wear some sort of armor that begins in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist. It seems she has a light-gray or off-white bow at the back of her skirt, with ribbon extending to the skirt's bottom.

Nora suddenly appears next to Ren, giggling while hopping around him.

"Can you believe it Ren. We're in Beacon together… I mean not together together but together as in-"

Ren sighs a second time. "Nora, I understand. But you need to calm down. Professor Ozpin is going to be speaking soon."

Nora salutes the calm hunter in training. "You got it, Ren"

Jaune chuckles at the two's conversation. _'They must be really close friends.'_.

Suddenly Jaune hears a familiar voice. "You!" Jaune looks over to see Weiss Schnee starting a fight with Ruby. The said girl was currently holding on to her older sister. He sighs deciding it was best not to intervene. "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss continues.

"Oh my god, you really exploded." Yang says realizing that her sister really exploded.

Ruby removes herself from Yang "It was an accident! It was an accident!" Weiss holds a 'Dust for Dummies guide' in front of Ruby. "What's this?"

Weiss starts talking really fast about how the Schnee family is not responsible for any harm. Jaune decided just to turn her out and wait for his Uncle to give his speech to the students.

However, that was not the case when Weiss had caught his attention with her last statement "Yeah, and we can paint our nails, and try on cloths, and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there" Weiss points at Jaune.

'_Well that's just rude.' _Jaune decides to leave it alone, knowing that it was best to handle this at a later time.

Ruby who was excited by the idea had no idea that Weiss was being sarcastic "Oh wow, really?"

Weiss glares at Ruby "No."

"Ahem…" All the students glance up on stage to see Ozpin with Glynda to his left. "I'll keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate you life to the protection of the people."

The students all had smiles on their faces and were all anxious to start their studies. But all of that disappears soon after when the next set of words were uttered.

"But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far."

Ozpin then glances at Jaune, his gold gaze warming up for a split second, only to return to his previous icy gaze.

"It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin walks off stage. Jaune following his Uncle's every move.

Glynda speaks and tells all the students to gather in the ballroom. She dismisses the students. Jaune walks passed Ruby, Yang and Weiss and over hears Yang. "He seemed kind of off, almost like he wasn't even there."

Jaune agrees in a sense, but he pushes the thought aside. He looks over at Weiss and as he was walking passed her. "I'm a natural blond you know."

Weiss glares at the blond in black with an icy gaze obviously not amused.

* * *

The boys and girls were all in the ballroom getting into their sleep wear. Jaune was currently looking through his bag trying to find his pajamas. Sadly, no such luck.

"I guess I'll just have to improvise." Jaune takes off his shirt revealing the results of his years of training. His body was sculpted to perfection. He didn't have too much or not enough muscle.

On his left breast was the Roman numeral **XIII **tattooed in black ink. This earns him a few perplexed stares all coming from the boys while the rest of the staring was done by the girls, obviously infatuated with the young Arc.

As the girls were all staring at Jaune, Ruby was currently writing a letter for her friends back at Signal, only to be interrupted by Yang.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang suddenly drops down on her sleeping bag.

Ruby not bothering to stop writing, replies to her beloved sister. "I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though."

Yang looks over at all the boys with _approving_ eyes. "I know I do." She then notices a shirtless Jaune with _very approving_ eyes. "I definitely approve of this."

Ruby waves her hand in front of Yang's face hoping to snap her out of her trance. "Yang, what are you looking at." Ruby looks in the direction where her sister's eyes laid and what she saw made her cheeks as red as her apparel. "Don't stare!" She throws a pillow at her sister's face causing her to break out of her trance.

Yang removes the pillow from her face and returns it to Ruby. "Sorry about that Ruby, I saw someone who was really hot… I mean shirtless… no uh… okay I was ogling at hot stuff over there. Anyways, what's that?" Yang looks at her sister's journal.

"A letter to the gang back in Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

Yang smiles "Aww, that's so cuuuuuute!" Ruby threw her pillow at Yang again due to her comment.

"I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here".

Yang reminds her of a certain blond boy "What about Jaune? He's nice, hot, and shirtless."

"Yang!" Ruby shouted

"Sorry, now where was I? Oh yeah, he's also hot."

"You already said that." Ruby said with slight irritation.

Yang smirks "Exactly".

"You're unbelievable"

Yang giggles "Look the point is that Jaune is your friend. So plus one friend! That's a 100 percent increase"!

Ruby lies down on her back "I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero."

Yang in an attempt to comfort her little sister tells Ruby her philosophy on the situation. "There's no such thing as negative friends! You just made one friend and one enemy." Ruby throws another pillow at Yang's face.

"Okay would you stop with the pillow throwing already?!" Yang's eyes shift from their pretty lilac to a crimson red. However, she calms down and her threatening eyes revert back to the innocent lilac from before.

"Look, it's only been one day. Trust me; you got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet.

Ruby then remembers the words Jaune had spoken to her "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." The words echoing in her mind.

Ruby hears a match and see's candle light. She gets up and sees a girl with wavy black hair and amber eyes. It's the girl from the courtyard. "That girl…"

Jaune comes back to the ballroom to get some sleep. When he enters he notices Ruby, Yang and the girl with the black bow that was at the courtyard. They were talking about something and he didn't want to disturb them. So he gets out of sight to listen in.

Yang who was as bubbly as ever, began pestering the girl with the black bow. "So… what's your name?

The girl looks up from her book "Blake"

Yang persists on trying to socialize with the now identified Blake. "Well, Blake, I'm Yang! Ruby's older sister! I like your bow"!

'_How can she be so cheerful all the time'? _Jaune thought.

Blake responds but is clearly annoyed "Thanks"

Yang of course due to her persistence keeps talking with the girl. "It goes great with your… pajamas!"

Jaune face palms _'You have got to be kidding me?'_

"Right." Blake says in a monotone voice not bothering to look away from her book.

Yang keeps trying to socialize with her but of course each attempt ends in failure. Leaving Jaune with multiple head injuries due to all the face palms he did due to Yang's constant attempts at trying to talk with the girl in black.

"Nice night, don't you think?" Yang asks as a last ditch effort in trying to socialize with the bow wearing girl.

"Yes - it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book!" Ruby and Yang stand there. "That I will continue to read." Ruby and Yang continue standing. "As soon as you leave!"

'_I know your pain.' _Jaune says in thought.

"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause." Yang says finally admitting to defeat.

"What's it about?" Ruby asked.

'_She must be asking about the book.'_ Jaune deduces.

Blake was taken aback by the question. Ruby then asks about its name and what it was about again.

"It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body."

Jaune listens in closely leaning against the pillar with his arms crossed. _'A man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body. It reminds me of myself. I can feel it every day. The scared little boy who desperately wants his parents to come back, trying to take control of my body, but I know that if I do let him take control. Then I'll only drown in despair.'_

Ruby continues "I love books. Yang used to read me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters… they're one of the reasons why I want to be a huntress."

Blake now interested in the young girl starts speaking with her "Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"Well I'm hoping we all will." Ruby replies, both bright and hopeful. "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

Jaune was at a loss for words. He too, had that same dream when he was a child. He wanted to be like the heroes in the stories he read, to be like his mother and father.

"But the real world isn't like the fairy tales we read". Blake responds with. Her words reminding Jaune all too well, how right she is.

Both Jaune and Blake were expecting Ruby to only sit down in defeat. But the next set of words that the young hopeful girl utters causes them to stop in thought.

"Well that's why we're here… to make it better."

"Ohhh, I'm so proud of my baby sister" Yang hugs Ruby up into the air.

Ruby starts fighting her off "Cut it out!" the two sisters begin fighting. The commotion wakes Weiss and an argument ensues.

While they were busy fighting Jaune was deep in thought with a smile on his face. '_You're an interesting girl, Ruby.' _Jaune no longer leans on the pillar and walks around the girls undetected so he could sleep. Jaune enters his sleeping bag and begins to drift off into slumber. But before his dreams could take over he has one final thought. _'These next four years, will truly be something special._

* * *

In every journey many decisions must be made. Who to save, who to kill? What weapon should be kept, what weapon should be forgotten? Every decision one makes on their journey is important.

Even something as trivial as what to wear in combat.

Should he take up the roll as Jaune Arc? And wear white armor with simple clothes that hold no form of protection? And take on the appearance of a knight.

Or

Should he remain as XIII? And wear his black clothing that was specially made during his time in the Jaeger Program? And take on the appearance of an assassin.

The decision is up…

To you

* * *

As you know this is a revamped version of my story, XIII. Now the last bit that's just above the Author's Notes is in fact a decision you can make in the polls. Just go to my profile and you can make the decision of what Jaune wears throughout the rest of the story.

Canon clothes or the new outfit for Jaune which is all black.

The poll will remain open till the 22nd or 23rd of this month.

Remember to Follow/Favorite it if you deem my story worthy. If not, then by all means leave a review on how I can improve on my writing.

If you're a returning reader of this story then Follow/Favorite.


	3. Act II: XIII in the Emerald Forest

Okay for some odd reason when I uploaded this chapter again (Yeah you heard right, I said again.) It wasn't showing the third chapter. Which is normal for the first 15 or so minutes. But apparently hours after it's been posted it still shows 2 chapters instead of 3. Also, when I clicked on the story and tried scrolling through the chapters there were still only 2. And that's why I've ended up uploading this chapter 3 times.

I'd also like to give credit to SoSking for beta reading this chapter. He's been a huge help to me and I appreciate him greatly. (And no the mistake that was made is not his fault. After fixing all the problems I actually added on to the chapter. That's when I made my small mistake.)

* * *

Act II

XIII in the Emerald Forest

"First comes destruction…"

The sight of flames reflects off blue glassy eyes of a young boy of 8 that were once filled with innocence. Tears come flooding out as he watches the flames consume everything around him, his home, now in ruin the suffocating scent of smoke filling his lungs.

The screeching sound of a woman's scream pierces the boy's eardrums. His tear filled eyes taking in the view of crimson blood, and two individuals lying on the ground, lifeless.

The two bodies devoid of life were the once happy Arc couple. With Elizabeth's corpse being held by an equally lifeless Rohan.

The child with blond locks looks around, recognizing where he was. He was in fact home, but it was blazing, hell fire burning his home until it was nothing but ash.

Shattered glass is all around him, each shard reflecting the image of the scared boy.

* * *

Sapphire eyes open the sight of the ballroom ceiling gracing the now fearful eyes. Jaune gets up, beads of sweat on his forehead. He brings his hand up to hold his head. "That nightmare again"

Jaune's thoughts were interrupted by the antics of the orange haired girl he met at the auditorium. She was currently attempting to wake her sleep deprived friend.

"Wake up lazy bud!" Nora says as she dashes to the side.

Ren gets up with a groan as Nora hounds him.

Nora starts singing in a cheerful manner. "It's morning, it's morning, it's morning, it's morning!" Each time she repeats her words she dashes to different spots around Ren.

Ren sighs yet again, regretting the fact that he was awake and not doing his favorite activity with his second favorite object… his sleeping bag. With a nice soft bed being his number one as well as being the love of his life.

Jaune looked at the overly happy girl with neutrality. Not really knowing what to think of her. _'I've never met a girl who can be this happy. It's… odd.'_

The blond assassin stands up with an audible yawn and a few stretches before changing into his gear.

Jaune kneels down to his duffle bag and takes out his black clothes. He gets them on to start the new day.

As Jaune was preparing for the day he overhears the entire conversation between Ren and Nora.

As Ren and Jaune were brushing their teeth. "I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full 24 hours! Not that I thought we would get kicked out or anything, I mean you're the perfect student and I'm, well I'm me! But it's just crazy you know!"

After that Ren and Jaune are tying up their sleeping bags, they were even side by side when doing so. "We've been friends for sooooo long! What are the odds that we'd still be together! Well not together, together! But I'm not saying that you're not handsome, you are handsome! But that would just be weird, right?"

"Is she always like this?" Jaune questioned.

Ren sighs "Let's just say it's easier to count the days when she isn't being… Nora. And so far my count is only up to 2."

As Jaune finished packing his belongings Nora and Ren invite him to walk with them. He accepted their offer and walk through the halls.

As they were walking through the halls Nora resumes her conversation with Ren despite the stoic boy remaining silent throughout the conversation.

They enter the cafeteria where they get pancakes. Jaune was sitting with the childhood friends. Nora was still talking despite the fact that she has a pancake in her mouth. '_God she's talkative.' _

"Right, what was I thinking? But still, I hope we still end up on the same team together!" Nora then gets hit with realization. "Oh I know! We should come up with some sort of plan. To make sure we end up on the same team together!" Nora then lowers her voice. "How about we bribe the headmaster?"

Jaune starts choking on his pancake, earning him perplexed stares from the polar opposite friends. He grabbed his glass of water and gulped it down, saving his life from the usual fluffy and delicious pancake.

"You okay?" Ren asks, somewhat concerned for the blond teen next to him.

As Jaune was about to reply the pancake enthusiast jumps on the table killing intent being evoked from her as she points an accusing finger at Jaune.

"You would dare insult the blessed treasures gifted to us by the holy creators of fluffiness?!"

Jaune tilts his head to the side, not understanding what he did to anger the usual cheerful girl.

Before Nora can continue her stoic friend suddenly pulls her down, seating her next to him.

"Nora, leave the poor guy alone. He was choking so it's only natural for him to chug it down with water."

Jaune was simply confused about the whole matter. He wasn't used to interacting with other people, especially with a girl as crazy as Nora. _'So that's why she was so mad? Why would someone overreact about something so trivial?' _

Her killing intent vanishes in a split second and continues her conversation from before without any subtlety.

As Jaune was walking around to find his locker he overheard Nora yet again, talking to Ren while he was preparing his green dual blade pistols, StormFlower. "I know, we'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal!"

Nora gasps a hit of realization evident in her bubbly expression.

"Oh, a secret signal so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?" Nora asks pointing her finger at Ren's face.

The stoic boy finally replies to his childhood friend, in a calm demeanor unlike the girl next to him. "Nora?"

"Yes Ren?" She replies innocently.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." Ren says as he conceals Stormflower in his sleeves.

Nora thinks about this for a moment, 'moment' being the key word. Nora smiles "That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect that we're working together!"

Ren closes his locker, a smile gracing his features.

"Come on Nora, let's go." Ren says in a calm dignified manner.

"But not together, together!" Nora finished following her child friend while giggling.

Jaune looks at his paper with his locker number on it.

"Locker 636… huh… I would've remembered having to count that high."

As he was walking around the locker room he notices Ruby and Yang talking with one another, overhearing Ruby loudly sigh.

"You sound like Dad!" She shoves her weapon into the locker and resumes her rant.

"Okay, first of all: What does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly: I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!" Ruby crosses her arms in a knowing manner.

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang says in a sisterly manner, her words soft and caring.

Ruby suddenly became nervous, uncomfortable with the idea of pairing with people she didn't know.

"Um, I don't know, I... I'll just be on your team or something..." She says, hoping that her sister would approve of the idea.

Yang brings her hair around her shoulder and begins stroking it, nervous about how to say her next words.

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?"

Ruby is suddenly only a few inches away from the blonde brawler.

"My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

"What? No! Of course I do! I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help you... break out of your shell!"

"What the-?! I don't need to 'break out of my shell'! That's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous" Jaune finishes for the scythe wielder, deciding to resolve the situation.

The two siblings divert their attention to the blond in black.

Jaune continues speaking. "Ruby, I for one agree with your sister. You should try and make friends."

Ruby looks down on the ground in defeat.

"Why do I need to make friends?"

Jaune replies with a light hearted laugh and gently places his hand on the nervous girl's head. "Well, you and I are friends. Don't you want to make even more?"

He bends down so his can be eye leveled with Ruby.

"Remember, "Strangers are only friends you haven't met yet." So make new friends."

Ruby blushes a light pink, the gentle hand that was on her head and the fact that Jaune's face was only inches away from her own gives a warm feeling within her chest.

The lone Arc removes his hand from the small girl's head. Ruby's sense of warmth immediately vanishes at that moment.

"It's important that you try and connect with other people. This will allow you to grow in ways that are beneficial to huntsmen and huntresses."

Ruby looks at Jaune pleadingly. "Maybe… we could be on a team."

He looks at Ruby apologetically. "Ruby, the way teams are formed is unknown to me. I can't promise you that we'll be on the same team."

Ruby has a disappointing aura around her but understood why Jaune said what he had.

She suddenly feels someone poke her forehead. She looks up and sees Jaune with an encouraging smile.

"Hey chin up." Jaune brings his hand forward in a closed fist with only his pinky finger out. "How about I make you a promise?"

Ruby looks at the young assassin's pinky skeptically.

"I'm listening."

"I promise that no matter what team we're on or what events may take place… we'll still be friends no matter what… always."

The promise he states causes the girl clad in red to blush, her cheeks only a light pink. But despite how embarrassed she was, she brings her hand forth, her pinky out. Their pinkies entwine, signifying that the promise has been made.

Ruby smiles, happy that they have made such a promise together the warm unrecognizable feeling she had felt before returns.

In a playful manner Yang wraps her arm around Jaune's neck. "Well aren't you Mr. Smooth. You're already capturing my baby sister's heart." Her playful demeanor quickly changes, becoming more predatory. Her lilac eyes look into the sapphire eyes of Jaune with determination.

"But you're definitely going to be mine."

Fear something Jaune hasn't felt for quite some time. However, the fear he was feeling was foreign not only because it's been so long but the reason for being so scared escapes him. Not only that but the physical contact with the fellow blonde caused him to be extremely uncomfortable, causing his face to become as red as the scythe wielder's name.

So he complies with the fellow blonde wanting to get away as soon as possible.

"Um… sure."

"Good, now that that's settled.

Jaune sighs in relief his face returning to its normal color.

"I need to find my locker. I'll catch up later." He walks past the two sisters only for his gaze to be set on Weiss Schnee the ice cold princess and a girl standing next to her with fire red hair wearing Spartan like armor that was very revealing..

She wears her red hair in a waist-length ponytail and has vivid green eyes. She also wears light-green eye shadow around the far, upper-corners of her eyes. She is tall and quite muscular compared to most of the other girls he's met so far.

'_I feel like I've seen her somewhere. Maybe she was on a… cereal box?'_ Jaune removes his current thoughts. He continues looking for his locker, finding it moments later.

Jaune enters the code to his locker and opens it, the view of his three weapons gracing him.

Ebony and Ivory, the twin pistols of different colors were in their holsters, hanging from a hook of the locker. He removes the holsters and places them above his back pockets which are then concealed by his black trench coat.

Dark Repulser was in its gray scabbard leaning on the inner right wall of the locker. He takes the sheathed blade and straps it on his back.

Crocea Mors was leaning on the opposite wall. He reaches for the family heirloom but when his fingers are only an inch away he hesitates.

He sighs knowing the reason for his hesitation.

"This sword and shield isn't meant for an assassin like me." His hand retreats from Crocea Mors. "It's for a hero."

He looks at Crocea Mors one final time, a smile gracing his features. The ancient weapon in front of him brings him unwavering joy. Perhaps the reason he stated before was not his true intention for leaving Crocea Mors.

He closes the locker and makes his way out.

After preparing himself, Jaune sees Weiss doing different poses with faces that weren't exactly sane. Jaune could have sworn he saw thunder clouds behind her.

Jaune walks over to the insane heiress. "I hope you realize that you're evoking a terrifying persona."

Weiss crosses her arms obviously aggravated with Jaune already. "You again?"

Pyrrha suddenly got in between Jaune and Weiss so she could talk to the blond assassin. "Nice to meet you."

Jaune directs his attention towards the girl with fire red hair. "Oh sorry for not noticing you. Hi, I'm Jaune Arc." He says as he has his hand out for the Spartan.

Pyrrha smiles however it was different from a normal one that anyone would give when meeting someone new. Her smile was filled with genuine happiness, the reason for this emotion unknown to him.

Before she can return the gesture Weiss gets in between the two.

"Jaune is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest Snow Angel." He says with genuine confusion while he smiles.

Although furious by the nickname Jaune gave her the heiress continues "This is Pyrrha" she points at said girl.

"Hello again" Pyrrha said waving at Jaune.

"Pyrrha graduated top her class in Sanctum." Weiss said knowingly

Jaune who was still smiling. "Sorry, but I've never heard of it."

Weiss was taken aback by the boy's obliviousness. She provides Jaune with more information "She's won the Mistral Regional Tournament 4 years in a row, a new record."

The clueless assassin continues to smile.

"I'm afraid I still don't know what you're talking about." He looks at the supposed champion with a congratulatory smile. "But congratulations on your success. I think you and I would make a pretty good team"

The red head's cheeks turn bright pink fully appreciating his kind words.

Weiss now losing her composure begins waving her arms around in frustration. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Peeps Marshmallow Flakes box!"

Jaune's eyes instantly widen at the mention of his favorite cereal. He would always have that for breakfast and even after training matches with fellow Jaeger Program members. "I remember now!"

Jaune's blue eyes glance over at Pyrrha. "They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters." He said in a happy but composed manner.

Pyrrha smiles. "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly the cereal isn't very good for you."

Weiss the friendly neighborhood Ice Queen intervenes yet again.

"So after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?"

Jaune rubs the back of his head. "I guess you have a point there."

Pyrrha walks up to Jaune and places her hand on his shoulder. "Actually, Jaune, I'd think you'd make a great leader."

Jaune smiles while removing her hand from his shoulder. "I'm afraid I have to disagree. It's not my place to lead a team. But thank you for your kind words. Well, I should get going." He walks away from his fellow peers.

* * *

Jaune decides to head over to Beacon Cliff early so he can speak with Ozpin and Glynda. As he's walking he notices Ozpin and Glynda looking out over the forest.

"So what are you two up to?" His adopted parents look over at the boy.

Glynda with a scroll in her hand walks up to Jaune with an apologetic look. "Sorry about leaving you at Ozpin's house. He insisted that you ride on the dust plane with everyone else."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not mad." Jaune swiftly dismisses.

"Jaune, would you come here?" Ozpin said while looking over the dangerous forest.

Jaune does so with Glynda following. Jaune was in the middle with Ozpin to his right and Glynda to his left.

"Is there something you need uncle?"

Ozpin who was still looking at the forest "Tell me what you think of the school."

"So far I enjoy it. I've met some interesting people and I think they'll be good friends in the future. Why do you ask?"

Ozpin takes a sip of his coffee. "Jaune I am your caretaker so it's only natural for me to ask if you're enjoying your time here."

Glynda steps in with a playful smile which would never be seen by anyone… alive that is. "What he means is because he loves you he wants to make sure you're okay and that you'll have a great time here in Beacon."

Ozpin clears his throat "Anyways, Jaune as you know people mustn't know that you're my adopted child. If they did then they would believe I am giving you special treatment and they would begin to hate you for it."

Jaune nods his head understanding the situation. "I figured as much. That's why I haven't brought you up during my time with the other students."

Ozpin looks at his pride and joy with a small smile on his lips "I hope you realize that I expect nothing less than perfect in all your classes."

Jaune grins knowing full well that if he was below his uncle's standards he would meet an agonizing punishment.

"Would I ever let you down?" He asks sarcastically.

Ozpin has a light hearted laugh, enjoying his time with the boy he saw as his own son.

"I suppose I have nothing to worry about."

"Ozpin and I only expect the best from you." Glynda adds on, making sure that Jaune was aware that they wanted him to take his studies seriously.

Jaune laughs "I know which is why I won't let you guys down." He looks at the two former teammates with a knowing smirk. "So when are you two going to finally get married?"

Both Glynda and Ozpin are taken aback by their godchild's suggestion with Glynda being the first one to shoot his suggestion down.

"Like I would marry that immature-"

"Immature?" Ozpin questions, his voice slightly higher in volume than it usually would. "Please, I am most definitely mature about all matters."

Glynda glares at her old friend, her cheeks a bright red. "Then why without any subtlety are you going to literally launch them into the forest?!"

'_Wait what?!'_ Jaune's inner thoughts yell.

Ozpin huffs, looking away from the beautiful and mature woman next to him.

"It's tradition…"

"Yeah, since you've become headmaster!" Glynda retorts.

"Please our old headmaster thought my idea was great."

"Yeah, because he was senile and INSANE!"

"Um, guys?" Jaune interjects.

"WHAT?!" They both shout, both only seconds away from dueling.

"Do you think you can have this discussion after initiation?"

Glynda clears his throat, agreeing with Jaune completely and stops her banter with Ozpin… for now.

"I'll call the students here." Jaune and Ozpin nod their heads in agreement.

Jaune didn't have to wait very long for his fellow students to arrive. He takes the landing pad that was closest to Ozpin and Glynda.

His god parents smile at Jaune before composing themselves. When the other students start going to their respected pads Ozpin starts speaking.

Jaune however was currently in his own thoughts. _'Today is the day I prove my worth. I'll use all my training to get through initiation. I'll make everyone proud._

'_For the Jaeger Program,_

_For my parents and…_

Jaune looks at Ozpin and Glynda with determination. '_For them...'_

Jaune's train of thought is broken however when Ruby starts tugging on his sleeve who seems to be in distress. "What is it Ruby?"

"Weren't you paying attention?! The first people you make eye contact with will be your teammate for the next four years"!

"That is the worst way to form teams ever… of all time."

Ruby begins to panic. "What if I get teamed up with someone I don't know?" Her eyes widen. "Or worse…" she looks over at Weiss who was on her own pad.

Jaune smiles at the flustered girl. "You'll be fine I promise."

Ruby sighs knowing that pouting would get her nowhere and began staring at the forest apprehensively. "Well, here goes nothing."

"Are there any questions" Ozpin asked.

Jaune grins and raises his hand. "Sir…"

"Good, now take your positions." Ozpin said paying no attention to his adopted son.

Jaune continues to keep his hand raised his lips still forming a smile. "Sir I have a question." The individual pads begin launching students. "I believe we're supposed to have a landing strategy correct?"

"That is correct Mr. Arc what of it?"

"Well if it's alright with you. I was wondering if my landing strategy doesn't involve falling."

Ozpin smiles in realization knowing exactly what Jaune will be doing.

Ruby looks at Jaune confused by his words. "What are you talking abou-" The pad launches her, unable to finish her question because of it.

Ozpin and Glynda get out of 'teacher mode' to smile at Jaune since he was the only person left. Ozpin also decides to answer his question from before. "Yes that's quite alright." The pad Jaune was on launches him in to the forest. Ozpin and Glynda look at the young man who was in the air.

* * *

Despite being launched in the air Jaune has a smile that evokes childlike joy. The winds brushing against him as he was in the air was pleasant.

As Jaune flies through the air his body radiating white light, which swiftly channels towards his shoulder blades, the white light now shines solely on his shoulder blades. Suddenly white angelic white wings of aura burst out.

'_Note to self. When a dust plane is your only option for travel to your adopted dad's school don't take it. Just fly there yourself.' _

Jaune was soaring through the air a smile on his face, enjoying the freedom he felt when in the air. Wanting to enjoy this feeling further he ascends his wings flap once which causes a pulse of white aura to burst into life, a few feathers from his wings scattering away, the force of his wings shooting him up into the air.

Jaune accelerates once more, a trail of beautiful white feathers falling being made.

* * *

After landing Ruby was currently running through the forest in search of her sister Yang. "YANG, YANG!" Ruby was deep in thought as she was running through Emerald Forest. _'Ah this bad, this is really bad. What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first?' _

She then thinks about her blond friend that she made a pinky promise with and smiles. _'Well there's always Jaune. He's nice, he's funny. He seems like he would be really good in a fight. Not to mention he's kinda cute… oh my god what am I thinking!?' _Ruby's cheeks were a slight pink due to her thoughts.

'_Who else is there? Oh I know, what about Blake? So mysterious, so calm, plus she likes books.' _Ruby then frowns due to her next thought '_Well, then again I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a conversation with her. Think Ruby, who else do I know at this school?'_

Time seems to slow down as Ruby skids to a halt in front of her negative friend… or enemy as Yang would say… Weiss as she is turning to face her. She stops just in time for their eyes to meet and a pregnant pause follows. This ends when Weiss turns on her heel and walks the other way.

Following her slightly. "Wait! Where are you going?!" She stops and kicks the ground dejectedly. "We're supposed to be teammates..."

As Weiss passes Ruby and pulls on her hood. "By no means does this make us friends."

Ruby who was overjoyed as she's dragged away into the bushes. "You came back!"

* * *

After Jaune accelerated away he decides to land. When his feet touch the ground his angelic wings scatter, his white feathers gently falling towards the earth. When the feathers land on the ground they lay there for only a few moments before they fade away. Jaune looked around, deciding on where he should go.

"I could just fly the rest of the way but the point of this is to form a team. So I should walk to the relics to give myself a better chance at finding someone."

He begins his walk through the forest enjoying the peaceful atmosphere the birds singing their gentle melody while the boy in black greatly listens to them.

However the melody ceases the reason already known to the young hunter in training.

Jaune's sapphire eyes close in favor of concentrating on his hearing with the sound of running being heard, bushes being pushed away with low growls accompanying it all.

From his surrounding dozens of targets burst forth with the intent to kill.

Jaune opens his eyes identifying the targets as a pack of Beowolves. Two of the wolves are only inches away from him with their claws aimed to kill him.

A single flash of white light appears leaving no trace of Jaune.

Several feet above the ground was another white flash. The wolf type Grimm look above to see Jaune in midair.

Jaune's eyes are closed once again preparing himself for the slaughter that was about to occur. He tilts his head back causing him to descend to the ground head first.

His eyes burst open the intent to eradicate the creatures around him apparent. He takes his twin pistols out and starts shooting his aura infused rounds its rate of fire fully automatic. He spins around while doing so.

The hail of bullets hits the Beowolves without fail their fragile flesh being torn apart by his low power rounds.

As Jaune continues his descent he aims his pistols at the two directly below him, his fingers still holding down on the triggers causing the wolves around his primary targets to feel the sting of his hail until they meet their mark.

After gunning the monsters down and landing gracefully another dozen Beowolves run in. They surround the lone gunman.

Jaune looks around him scaling their threat level. With a frown he readies himself.

"I'm glad you're all here." His voice was emotionless and dull. He stands there with dozens of openings in favor of getting into a proper stance. "Because…" His eyes shift from their usual kind gaze into one filled with contempt. "I've been trigger happy since I've gotten here."

The soulless creatures growl at the young prodigy their longing for his death driving them.

Three wolves rush forward, but Jaune vanishes in a flash of white light before appearing above them. He aims Ebony the engravings of scrollwork at the bore of the pistol radiate a white light. He fires a shot that blows a large part of a Beowolf's head out in a burst of blood-red smoke.

More Beowolves start to attack as Jaune lands. He leaps over the first beast and shoots it in the back, then, still in the air, blasts another one's side and gets into a position where he can fire at the third dead center. He rolls back and stands.

One of the braver Beowolves goes forward, but Jaune merely spins around it avoiding its claw. He pulls down on the hammer of Ivory, a loud click being heard.

His white pistol begins to unfold, the sharp twisted grip straightens slightly while the barrel of the pistol extends and narrows into a sharp point becoming a blade, the engravings on the once pistol now on the white blade. Ivory was now a short sword without a hilt.

Before the Beowolf can react Jaune impales the creature's chest, the blow fatal but not enough to kill the beast yet. He has an amused smile that is directed at the beast while it growls at him. The smile vanishes a moment later in favor of a frown. He inserts the end of Ebony's barrel in the creature's mouth. He pulls the trigger and the back of the creature's head is blown off, blood-red smoke escaping the hole.

Jaune removes his sword and pistol from the Beowolf allowing its lifeless form to drop to the ground.

Another duo attacks, one gets swiftly disarmed, literally, before having its legs sliced off, killing it, before the second rushes in- only to get Ebony's aura round to its waist causing it to split apart, the blood-red smoke escaping the two severed limbs.

A single Beowolf charges forward, only for its head to be impaled to the ground by Ivory. Another wolf rushes in to the fray. Jaune gives the beast a quick look, Ebony unfolds into a black twin of Ivory's sword form.

Using the grip of Ivory which is still pinned to the ground he uses his hand to lift himself up and kick the Beowolf, knocking it back a few inches.

Jaune removes Ivory from the lifeless Grimm and charges forth at the monster he previously kicked. He swings both blades doing an X-slash killing the monster instantly.

As the Grimm's lifeless deformed body hits the ground Jaune glares at the remaining three, which look on in shock and fear.

But two of the beasts get over their fear and blindly charge at Jaune. But he vanishes in a flash of white light reappearing behind the attacking duo.

Seconds later multiple cuts appear, resulting in sprays of blood to escape their corpses while Jaune walks towards the last of the pack in a slow pace.

The sole surviving Beowolf backs off as Jaune makes his slow pace towards it. High pitch whines are all it can make, its usual threatening growl nonexistent in the presence of the ruthless killer.

Jaune stops his advance. "What's this? You're actually crying." He says it in a boorish manner, showing no sympathy for the pathetic mongrel in front of him.

The Beowolf continues its whines afraid of the fate it would soon meet.

The assassin in black takes a single step forward. That action alone causes the Beowolf to sprint away in an attempt to preserve its life.

As it runs away Jaune's short swords revert back to their pistol forms. He aims the black twin at the fleeing Grimm. He takes the shot tearing the creature's left leg off.

Despite losing its leg it continues to try and flee only for Jaune to shoot its right arm off halting its movement entirely. As the monster cries out in pain the cause for its agony approaches it.

Jaune slams his foot on the creature's head and slowly begins crushing its skull. The sound of its skull being crushed music to his ears.

"You don't get to live." He applies more pressure to the creature's head. "Did you monsters allow my parents to live?!" He starts gritting his teeth while applying even more force in his foot causing the defenseless wolf to whine even louder. "You inhuman monsters who only bring agony! I will never forgive any of you! Your mere existence is a mistake!" He shifts his foot slightly allowing a small opening of the monster's head to be seen. He aims Ebony once again, his aim still and perfect. "A mistake that I will gladly correct."

A single gunshot echoes through the forest, a flock of birds flying away as a result.

Jaune removes himself from the dead creature not showing any real sign of fatigue. He places his twin pistols in their holsters and moves on from the horrendous scene.

However, as Jaune is walking away he hears a twig snap. His instincts kick in and he quickly takes out Ebony and Ivory. However, he aims his twin pistols at the four time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament, Pyrrha Nikos.

Despite having two pistols aimed at her, Pyrrha waves at him with a warm smile. "Hello Jaune… I was honestly expecting you to wait by the relic location."

She looks around the area where the slaughter that took place just moments ago happened. "It looks like you've been busy."

Jaune nods his head while lowering his aim.

"Yeah they attacked me after I landed."

Pyrrha nods, her smile still gracing the blond hunter in training. "Do you have any spots left on your team?"

Jaune places his girls back in their holsters yet again. "Of course. I'd love to pair with you." Jaune says in a friendly manner.

Pyrrha's cheeks blush a light pink which goes unnoticed by Jaune due to being the oblivious boy he is.

"Come on let's go." He starts walking the opposite direction his partner for the next four years following him.


	4. Act III: XIII in the Emerald Forest (II)

XIII in the Emerald Forest (II)

* * *

Professor Ozpin watches the students on his Scroll at the Beacon Cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. He was then accompanied by Glynda Goodwitch who walks up behind him, holding her own tablet.

"Our last pair has been formed sir." She taps the screen to show the polar opposite friends. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along."

Glynda scrolls through the next pair. "Jaune seems to have found himself a very capable partner." Ozpin became curious, wanting to know who had paired up with his boy. "Pyrrha Nikos, she and Jaune will get along fine."

Ozpin grins "She might even be Jaune's first girlfriend."

Glynda frowns, not liking the idea of her godchild getting a girlfriend. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

* * *

Pyrrha and Jaune had been walking through the woods looking for the relics. But after walking for quite some time they end up in front of a cave.

"Could this be where the relics are?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat apprehensive about going in the cave.

Jaune places his hand on a crude drawing next to the entrance, consisting of multiple people fighting a large scorpion. "I don't think so. Take a look at this drawing."

Pyrrha complies, her vivid green eyes now looking at the drawing.

"They've been here for quite some time." She deduced.

Jaune looks at the cave entrance with a stern glare. The young assassin was prepared for combat. Not only that but he wanted it, to know that another one of those monsters he has vowed to kill is no more.

His partner doesn't notice however, due to the fact that Jaune's back was turned towards her. "We should move on." She said not wanting to have anything to do with the cave.

As the red head starts walking away Jaune places his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from leaving. She turns towards him. "What is it Jaune?"

"I'm going in."

Pyrrha looks at her partner with confusion evident in her features. "But why? It would be safer if we moved on to the relics."

Jaune smiles, compassion radiating off him.

"True, but what if someone in the future stumbles upon this cave? They might just end up losing their life." His black fingerless gloved hands enclose into a fist, the mere thought of someone dying evoking anger. "If that were to happen then the blame would be centered on us. So if we act now then we might just end up saving a life."

The red head's vivid green eyes look at Jaune with pride and joy, the reason being how proud she felt to be partners with this charismatic man. "That's quite noble of you Jaune."

Jaune smiles, appreciating her kind words but swiftly turns them down. "I'm only doing what I think is right."

Pyrrha simply returns the smile that Jaune graced her. "Let's go."

However, having a different plan in mind, Jaune brings his hand out motioning her to stop. "Pyrrha, I want you to stay outside."

The red haired Spartan's smile from earlier vanishes. A look of concern and obvious disapproval for his plan evident.

"But we should go together! It might be too dangerous for you to go alone!"

"If there is something in here then I'll draw it out. Once outside I want you to act as support." Once he gave his partner her instructions he makes his way to the entrance of the cave. However, he's unexpectedly pulled back. The cause of this being Pyrrha, concern still plaguing her features.

"Jaune, please don't go alone. We're partners now, that means you and I have to keep each other safe."

As touching as her words were, Jaune was simply confused. Why was she so concerned for him? It's a huntsman's duty to exterminate the Grimm at all costs despite the potential losses.

He along with his peers in the program had been taught this lesson. That's how they operated, using the most effective tactics to ensure absolute success. Getting hurt or killed in the process was only a mild concern in their eyes.

Jaune looks at Pyrrha with confusion still evident upon his features. "Why are you so concerned about me?"

The girl in question was taken aback. "Why wouldn't I be concerned?"

"Pyrrha, it is our duty to destroy these monsters in order to protect the innocent. My well being should only be a secondary concern."

The sudden change of personalities that Jaune presented was somewhat disturbing to her. Moments ago the boy in front of her was kind and compassionate. But now he was different, his kindness and his sense of compassion completely gone. He showed no concern for his own life and was more interested in killing one potential Grimm then preserving his own life.

Not knowing what to say anymore, Pyrrha hangs her head low, her vision solely on the ground.

Taking her silence as a sign of complying with him, Jaune walks away from the amazoness themed huntress. However, as he's walking he couldn't help but turn back, seeing that the beautiful red head was still looking down on the ground, a frown etched upon her face.

Jaune's eyes widen somewhat, his cold persona vanished at the sight of his partner's current state. He too looks down at the hard ground. But unlike Pyrrha, he only looks at the ground for a moment before his gaze returns to the red head.

As Pyrrha's gaze is on the ground, she suddenly feels a fingerless gloved hand on her shoulder, returning her to reality.

She looks straight, seeing Jaune with an apologetic smile.

"I thought you went in the cave?" She asked, confused but happy that he was still outside with her.

"I was. But seeing you sad over me drove me to come back." His smile remains as he said his words.

"Why though?"

"It's like you said. We're partners you and I. Which means keeping each other safe should be our top priority. And having you worry over me would only distract you." He removes his hand from her. "A distraction that might get you hurt."

As truthful as his words were there was another reason for his sudden change of heart. He was fully aware that his training was far different from Pyrrha's and the other students. He along with the other twelve members understood the necessity of sacrificing a life for the good of others. But others their age did not yet understand this. So knowing this, he decided to do things the "normal teen way".

The confusion that Pyrrha once had vanishes, appreciating her partner's words and change of heart.

As Jaune turns and walks away. "So we'll do it your way."

He and Pyrrha walk into the cave with Jaune holding a short, burning torch to light their way. "Stay close."

"What do you suppose could be in here?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat anxious for their possible encounter.

Jaune looks back at his concerned friend, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Nothing that we can't handle." As they were walking Pyrrha accidently bumps into Jaune causing him to drop the torch in a puddle of water. "Well this can't end well."

"I'm sorry Jaune. I didn't mean to bump into you." Pyrrha apologizes, feeling foolish for the accident.

Jaune chuckles "It's okay. I'm sure we'll be fine."

Pyrrha starts to feel warm suddenly. "Do you feel that?"

"Yeah, it's gotten warmer in here." Jaune said now serious. "Let's continue on."

After walking a few more feet they find a floating gold light. Pyrrha looks at the golden object curiously. "What could that be?"

Unlike Pyrrha, her blonde partner was well aware of what that gold light is and what it belongs to. "Pyrrha… it's time we leave."

Suddenly the gold light lunges at the Spartan.

The gold light pierces the ground, the booming sound of earth being crushed echoing in the cave.

Pyrrha was currently in Jaune's arms, being carried bridal style. He rushes out of the cave, something big following after him.

Jaune makes it out of the cave seconds later, Pyrrha still in his arms. "I should have known what it was judging from the drawings we saw earlier." Jaune allows Pyrrha to stand on her own. "Sorry about that but it attacked and I reacted."

Pyrrha cheeks were a light pink from the contact with the boy. But she regains her composure knowing that they would soon be in a battle.

"There's no need to apologize. But what was it that attacked us?"

Something crashes through the hole of the cave.

It was a large scorpion type Grimm. It has a black exoskeleton underneath several white, bonelike plates upon its back with red detailing. One of the more prominent attributes is the glowing golden stinger on its tail. It also has a pair of large pincers. A large amount of grass, moss and scars were on the beast as well.

It releases a booming roar that would bring fear to any normal student. Luckily Jaune and Pyrrha were anything but normal.

Jaune grins "Does that answer your question?"

Pyrrha looks at Jaune obviously taken aback by his calmness. "Jaune why are you so calm?! This is a B-Class Grimm!"

Jaune takes his girls out of their holsters, Ebony in his left and Ivory in his right and sets his sights on the large scorpion like Grimm. "Don't worry if we work together it should be easy enough. Besides, B-class Grimm may have power and at times speed. But they lack the intelligence and regeneration abilities of the higher tier Grimm."

Pyrrha nods despite her current doubts.

The Deathstalker attacks the two prodigies. Jaune and Pyrrha dash away to the side, Jaune to the right and Pyrrha to the left.

"Pyrrha, distract it!"

"On it" Pyrrha jumps up on a tree branch and transforms Milo from its javelin form to a rifle resembling a M1 Garand. She opens fire at the Deathstalker. Her dust rounds doing no significant damage to the Grimm's dense bone plating.

However, the scorpion type B-class Grimm was distracted by the red head's attacks giving Jaune the opportunity to fire his twin pistols.

Ebony and Ivory each fire off two rounds of high power aura infused rounds resembling white unstable flares at the large creature, the impact of each round causes a massive explosion of white nova. The four explosions cause only smoke to be visible.

The golden stinger bursts from the smoke and lunges at Jaune. He jumps away in time and does a back flip before landing.

The Deathstalker charges at the blond assassin. Jaune aims his pistols and fires off more explosive aura rounds, each round making impact causing the same aura filled explosions from last time to damage the large Grimm.

The Deathstalker uses its pincer in an attempt to knock him back. But Jaune jumps in between the claw and retreats even further.

After his successful retreat he starts forming a strategy.

"I'm not getting anywhere with this." Jaune said calmly. "Perhaps changing the form of aura I channel into Ebony and Ivory will suffice." He takes aim once again, the scrollwork engravings on his pistols glow a faint white light. He fires off countless rounds filled with his aura.

However, instead of erupting in a white explosion, the rounds pierce through the white bone plates, cracks forming as a result.

Instead of simply firing rounds of aura that are unstable in nature, he changes the form of his ammunition to become ultra sharp, giving it the ability to pierce through dense armor.

Blind rage fills the Death Stalker as it swings its pincer only for Jaune to avoid the attack by jumping back.

Despite how well Jaune was doing on his own, Pyrrha rushes to his side, no longer wanting her partner to fight alone. "Jaune?"

"Don't worry I'm fine."

The large menacing creature in front of them roars, the booming sound piercing their ears. As it throws its tangent Jaune takes this opportunity to holster his twin pistols while taking a step forward, his back towards Pyrrha.

The air around the young hunter in training shifts, gusts of wind blow gently around him, Pyrrha's hair gracefully flowing alongside the gentle wind.

Jaune's eyes are outlined with white light and his body suddenly combusts white aura, the force of his aura causes the once gentle wind around him to blow fiercely. The colossal amount of aura that Jaune evokes forms a white pillar of intense aura allowing anyone who was in the forest or nearby it to see it clearly.

* * *

Ozpin and Glynda see the white pillar of light and know instantly who it belongs to.

Ozpin takes a sip of his coffee "It looks like Jaune is getting serious. He must have encountered a B-class Grimm."

Glynda looks through her scroll and gets a visual of the fight. "You are correct, it seems Jaune and Miss Nikos has encountered a Deathstalker, which was in the cave they entered earlier."

She also takes note of the appearance of the Death Stalker. "Also, judging by the size, multiple scarring on its bone plates and the amount of moss and grass on the creature, it's safe to assume that it's been there for quite some time."

Ozpin yet again takes a sip from his coffee. "Initiation usually has one B-class Grimm to test the students. But with the addition of the Death Stalker things have gotten much more interesting."

"What happened to tradition?" Glynda asked sarcastically, bringing up the conversation they had before.

Ozpin mentally growls but remains stoic. "Since Jaune is here I thought it would be appropriate if we swayed from tradition… but just this once."

Glynda sighs, knowing that she wouldn't get anywhere by continuing their conversation. "I suppose I can agree with you." She looks at the white pillar of aura, a smile gracing her features. "I suppose Jaune can dispatch the Grimm without too many problems."

Ozpin smiles "Oh how right you are."

* * *

Ruby and Weiss had been arguing about their situation. They were lost not knowing the directions to take to get to the relics. However, their arguing stops when the lay eyes on a pillar of light. The intensity of the aura can be felt from where they are.

"That aura… it's incredible!" The Schnee heiress says, being the first to comment on the vast amounts of aura being generated.

"I actually have to agree with you on that." Ruby says, agreeing with the heiress for the first time since they've partnered up.

Weiss frowns "Who could hold this much aura?"

"It could be one of the professors." Ruby inferred.

"Weren't you paying attention? Professor Ozpin said that they would evaluate us! Nothing more so it's one of our classmates!" Weiss states, sounding a bit aggravated.

"Why are you so mad?" Ruby questioned, getting aggravated with her moody partner.

This causes the ice queen to scoff. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Ruby stares at her partner blankly, not believing her words of denial "Ah huh."

Weiss starts walking off, with Ruby following after her until she notices something in the sky. She grins, a _brilliant_ plan (to her that is) forming in her mind. "Weiss… I have an idea."

* * *

Yang and Blake are currently at the Abandon Temple where the remaining relics are located. As they prepare to depart they notice a pillar of white aura. Blake's expression changes from her usual bored expression to one that expresses awe.

"Incredible"

Yang put her hand on her hip. "I'll say. I bet it's Jaune."

Blake looks at her partner, wondering who Jaune was. "Who's that?"

Yang grins. "The guy who was flying with those wings of aura, whom I might add is really hot."

The bow wearing girl rolls her eyes. "Uh huh..."

Yang laughs. "Trust me, Blake. The moment you see him you'll know what I mean."

"I'm sure I will." The bow wearer said sarcastically.

* * *

Currently Ren and Nora are walking through the forest heading for the Abandon Temple. However, they stop to look at a unique spectacle. The childhood friends begin staring at a pillar of white aura.

The usually stoic Ren couldn't help but be in awe at the display. Even Nora stopped her antics to gaze at the display of power.

"That aura is incredible." Ren said breaking the silence.

Nora looks at her childhood friend and smiles returning to her usual Nora self. "Do you think it's Jaune?"

Ren still looking at the white light answers his childhood friend "I'm not sure Nora, but if it is… then he's in a league of his own."

Nora suddenly notices a new play thing. She turns to her childhood friend, her hands behind her back with her lips forming a wide and playful smile. "Ren, I have an idea!"

Ren sighs, though he didn't want to know what she had in mind, he asks his crazy friend about her unknown suggestion. "And what would your idea be?"

Nora skips ahead while giggling. "You'll see!"

Ren sighs a second time, knowing that whatever she had planned would exhaust him. He has one final thought before following the hellish route laid before him.

'_Oh where are you my love? My loving. Sweet. Beautiful. Comfy. Bed.'_

* * *

Pyrrha was astonished by the display of power that Jaune was revealing. The amount of aura that he was releasing was something that she had never felt from a single person their age. "Incredible."

The Death Stalker begins to back off from its once prey.

Jaune looks back at Pyrrha with a gentle smile. "Hang tight. I'll finish this in an instant." He turns back to the Death Stalker and starts advancing towards the creature in a slow pace, the pillar he created with his aura condensed to match his movement.

As he's advancing he places his right hand on the hilt of his sheathed blade. He takes his sword out, the ivory blade shining light of the same color, gold runic symbols appear along the length of blade.

"Tell me are you like that Beowolf I butchered? Are you feeling terrified?" Jaune was currently asking the question to the Death Stalker. The aura being channeled through his blade starts taking the appearance of dancing flames.

"Let's put it the test." Jaune raises his sword in the air; the white aura around his blade begins to grow wilder. The flame like white aura becomes brighter and bigger constantly.

"Let this herald your end." Jaune prepares to thrust his blade downward.

…

'_First comes destruction…'_

His blade stops midway and his aura vanishes in an instant, the cries from his mother and father within in his mind. The screams of agony that he is cursed to hear every time he sleeps. The pools of blood from his cherished parents soak the ground, right next to a young boy with blond hair and sapphire eyes.

Jaune's knees hit the ground and he begins holding his head in pain with his free hand, his blue eyes shut from the world.

"Why am I seeing all of this?!"

The Death Stalker's visible fear is no more, and it takes the opportunity to attack the nightmare plagued assassin. Its charge was fast and vicious, the ground beneath them shaking as it advances.

Pyrrha looks at her partner with a worried expression. Without a moment's delay she rushes to her partner's side placing her hands on his shoulders and begins shaking him, brining him back to reality.

"Jaune we need to move!"

Jaune opens his eyes, shining sapphire meeting vivid emerald. Noticing the Death Stalker's violent charge he quickly wraps his arm around Pyrrha's waist and jumps out of the way. While in the air he swings his sword vertically. At the instant of the slash, the sword absorbs and condenses Jaune's aura before releasing it at the tip of the blade, magnifying the slash attack, which flies forward taking the shape of a crescent moon. The slash of aura hits the Death Stalker causing a massive explosion to burst into life.

The scorpion type Grimm screeches. Anger and pain were the only coherent thoughts it could process. It starts tearing the forestry apart.

Jaune was breathing heavily, a bead of sweat rolling down, the affect of the nightmare still taking its toll.

"Jaune are you alright?" The female Spartan asks with genuine concern.

Jaune calms his breathing before he replies to the redhead. "I'm fine." He sees the Death Stalker still destroying the trees around them, all while screeching in anger its frustration for its injury is the reason. Jaune gets up from his crouched position. "I'll finish it off now."

Pyrrha voices her concern to her partner. "Jaune you could have been killed! We should retreat for now!"

"You don't have to worry about me."

"Jaune, of course I need to worry about you. We're partners now. So please, we need to go." Pyrrha places her firm but gentle hand on the young man's shoulder, her concern for his safety foreign to him.

Jaune was thinking over the whole situation, the time he spent thinking over what to do felt like hours, each imaginative hour growing to his frustration.

Despite wanting to remain here and eradicate the Death Stalker he reluctantly agrees to retreat. The reason for his decision being made was his desire to ensure that his partner is well.

"Alright, we'll leave." Jaune sheathes his sword before picking Pyrrha up bridal style. "I'd rather not make you worry."

Pyrrha's cheeks glow a light pink "What are you doing!?"

Jaune eases her troubles with a gentle smile. "Trust me." White wings of aura burst from his shoulders and he takes to the sky, a few white feathers gently fall to the ground.

For reasons unknown to the Mistral Champion, her heart beats accelerate, her chest tightens all while feeling the sensation of butterflies in her stomach. To compliment the feelings she has inward, her cheeks become the same shade of red as her hair.

Which Jaune notices for once and addressed the matter. "Pyrrha what's wrong. You're not sick are you?"

Pyrrha shakes her head _no_ denying that anything was wrong, while still feeling the sensations from his hold on her. "I'm fine, I just didn't expect that."

Jaune smiles at his beautiful partner. "Sorry, I'll warn you next time."

* * *

Yang and Blake are at the Abandoned Temple, relic in hand. As they prepare to leave they notice the blond assassin with angel wings flying towards them.

Yang grins "Looks like Jaune made it."

Blake looks at the figure getting closer and closer until he lands. "So that's Jaune."

Jaune lets Pyrrha walk on her own and the partners walk towards the other pair. Jaune waves at them. "Hey Yang, how are you and your partner doing?"

"I **was** great until an Ursa Major ruined my hair!" Yang's usual pretty lilac eyes turn crimson and her hair starts glowing, flames forming due to rage.

Blake sighs. "My name is Blake Belladonna." The girl clad in black looks over at her teammate. "And it was only a few strands."

Yang looks at her partner in retort "You don't understand! My hair is my life!" Yang starts brushing her hair in a protective manner.

The other two females deadpan at Yang's obsession of her hair

While the lone male smiles, somehow understanding her obsession. "Well your hair is beautiful. So I guess it's only natural for you to want to protect it." In the blonde's inner most thoughts he was mentally coaching himself for how well he did. _'In order for me to make friends with people of the opposite sex I have to compliment them. Such as saying how beautiful they are and to compliment them when it's appropriate.' _Jaune has a proud smile. _'Thanks for the tip… Uncle Ozpin.'_

Meanwhile at the cliff.

Ozpin looks at his scroll with a knowing grin while Glynda was becoming frustrated.

"That's my boy."

Yang stops brushing her hair, somewhat stunned by the kind words that the fellow blond said. However, she regains her composure soon after. "See Blake, Jaune gets it.

"Anyways." Pyrrha said trying to go on to more pressing matters. "We should leave soon."

Jaune nods in agreement. "Pyrrha, I'll grab a relic." As he walks to the temple to grab a relic, someone taps on his shoulder. He turns to see Blake looking up at the sky with a surprised expression. He follows where her gaze is, which causes him to sigh in the process.

In the air was the cute little red riding hood cross player weapon fanatic they all know and love, Ruby Rose. She was currently screaming.

"HEADS UUUUUUUUUUUP!"

"I'll get her." Jaune said in a bored manner, as he channels his aura to create his angelic wings which burst from his shoulder blades. He flies at a great speed to catch the girl in time before she could fall. He catches her, carrying her bridal style. "You have some explaining to do." Jaune said ready to scold the girl.

The girl who had a lot of explaining to do laughs nervously. She has a blush evident on her face which Jaune deduced as her being nervous for his said scolding. He lands gently on the ground allowing her to stand on her own. "You okay?"

Ruby nods "Yeah, but that was incredible. So that's what you meant back at the cliff."

Blake looks at Yang, curiosity in her eyes. "Did your sister just fall from the sky?

Yang laughs "You saw her, didn't you. But hey, it couldn't have been all bad."

Blake looks at her partner with a perplexed gaze, not understanding how falling from the sky wasn't "all bad".

"How's that?"

Yang places her hand on her hip, while looking at her prey with hair similar to her own. "Isn't it obvious? She was caught by a hot stud. That stud being my prey."

Jaune looks at Yang obviously confused by her words. And why he was referred to as a "stud"? But more importantly why was he called "prey".

"Pardon?"

Ruby waves her hand in front of her. "It's nothing for you to be concerned about?"

Before Jaune can ask why he shouldn't worry about being prey to the scary blonde, everyone in the group hears something crashing into trees. They look over at the source and see something truly amazing.

Riding on the back of a livid Ursa was the hyperactive, happy go lucky, pink wearing crazy psycho path… Nora Valkyrie.

Jaune looks at the display with interest. "It's official. Nothing else after this will surprise me." He said, not doubting his own words. "And did she just say yee-ha?"

"AWWWWW it's broken!" Nora pouted. A mere second passes and Nora was now on top of the Ursa, examining her handy work.

Ren shows up panting from all the running he was forced to do. "Nora! Please… don't ever do that again." He looks up again and notices by the pink dotted outline of where his partner should be that Nora has run off again, and looks around frantically.

Nora, who is now in the Temple, stares at a golden rook relic. "Oooohh..." She grabs the gold rook, an animation of stars and her hammer symbol playing in the pink background as she dances and sings with the chess piece. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

"NORA!" Ren shouted.

She stops dancing with the rook on her head, she then salutes, dropping the relic into her hand. "Coming, Ren!" She skips off to her favorite person in the whole world.

Blake was about to question what had just occurred but stops when someone places their hand on her shoulder.

She turns to see Jaune with a knowing look. "I wouldn't question it if I were you." Suddenly more trees were being torn apart. The Death Stalker from before emerges. "And now suddenly things just got worse."

Suddenly Yang's aura bursts out in flames, the fiery aura resonating around her. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! CAN EVERYBODY JUST CHILL OUT FOR LIKE TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!"

One

Two

Ding

Ruby taps on Yang's shoulder motioning her to look up. "Yang." She points up at the sky. Up above, Weiss is revealed to be hanging on a talon the size of her entire body that belongs to a gigantic Nevermore. "Jaune, I need your help again."

Jaune sighs "Of course you do."

Everyone can hear Weiss's words being cried out from above. "How could you leave me?!"

"I said jump!" Ruby said, that being her only defense.

"She's gonna fall." Blake said.

"She'll be fine." Ruby said, clearly not believing her own words.

"She's falling" Ren noted.

"I'll get her… wow déjà vu… though this time it's a different girl… you know what I mean?" Everyone looks at Jaune, deadpanning at his casual demeanor.

Jaune sighs once again, and looks up at the falling heiress again. "I'll just go and save her." Jaune's wings of aura appear; he flies in the air and catches her bridal style. A smile appears upon Jaune's face. "Just dropping in?"

Weiss blushes, her pale skin finally having color for a change. "Let me down you, rapscallion!"

Jaune chuckles, not needing any gratitude from the heiress he saved. "As you wish." Jaune lands on the ground and lays Weiss down gently. "You okay?"

Weiss looks the other way "I'm fine." She walks over to Ruby and starts scolding her about how foolish her plan was, saying "how dare you jump off and leave me alone!"

"Great, the gangs all here, now we can die together." Yang shouts sarcastically.

Ruby grins looking at the Death Stalker with excitement, knowing that this was her chance to prove herself. "Not if I can help it." She sounds a battle cry and rushes towards the Grimm.

Yang holds her hand out and became worried. "Ruby wait!"

Ruby, still screaming, fires Crescent Rose and charges at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two meet, the Grimm swipes Ruby away and she is knocked back.

While getting up slowly. "D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby turns back to the monster and shoots it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing her scythe as the Death Stalker now goes after her.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted in worry.

Yang rushes over to her sister.

Jaune was about to follow after her if not for the Nevermore that was circling back to them, more specifically to Ruby. "Damn it!" He aims Ebony and Ivory at the large crow. He begins unloading his countless shots of aura projectiles onto the Nevermore. The rounds fired were explosive aura rounds. Each round that explodes on impact doing little to no damage.

Ruby rushes towards Yang, but the Nevermore caws above them, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that catch on Ruby's cape and prevent Yang from reaching her.

"Ruby get out of there!" Yang shouted as Ruby was trying to pull her cloak out.

"I'm trying!" Ruby said, tugging her cloak. She was beginning to panic due to the fact that the Death Stalker was inching closer and closer at her.

Jaune grabs the handle of Dark Repulser to unsheathe his holy blade, but stops when he sees a white blur. His eyes slightly widen due to the identity of the blur.

The Death Stalker approaches, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and heading down on the helpless girl.

Yang reaches out in vain. "Ruby!" The same white blur from before passes her.

The stinger from the Death Stalker strikes down. Ruby closes her silver eyes, not wanting to look at the creature. However, instead of the sound of her own bones being crushed, she hears the creation of ice.

"You are _so_ childish."

Ruby opens her eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and lowers her arms from their futile position over her head as she stares at her savior. "Weiss…?"

Weiss continues "…and dimwitted and hyperactive and don't get me started on your fighting style." Weiss pulls out Myrtenaster, her rapier. Weiss pauses for a moment, but continues. "And I suppose, I can be a bit… difficult. But if we're going to do this then… then we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, then I'll be… nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off." Ruby responded weakly but looks at Weiss with determination. "I want you to know that I can do this."

"… You're fine." Weiss walks past Ruby.

The young girl clad in red breathes a sigh of relief, then closes her eyes and clasps her hands as she gratefully whispers. "Normal knees..." She gets up and stares at the Death Stalker as it struggles to escape with its tail trapped in the ice. "Whoa!"

Jaune walks to Weiss, with a smile of gratitude formed. "Thank you, Weiss."

Weiss rolls her eyes "Why are you grateful?"

"I'm grateful because you saved a dear friend of mine" Jaune places his hand on Weiss's shoulder. "And I'm also grateful that you're safe."

Weiss blushes but hides her face so Jaune wouldn't see her. "What are you saying!? It's not like I did it for you!" Weiss walks past him.

Jaune's smile shifts into one of praise. "By the way that was impressive what you did. You used a glyph to propel yourself in front of Ruby to block the Death Stalker's attack with a dust enabled ice. Your speed and technique is impressive."

Weiss looks back at Jaune, now serious no longer showing signs of embarrassment from before. "And your aura reserves are anything but normal." She turns towards him now. "That pillar of aura from before was you, right?"

"Indeed it was. And I thank you for your praise." He has his gaze centered on Ruby. "I need to check up on Ruby so prepare to leave." Jaune said while walking off towards Ruby and Yang. The latter currently pulling the other into an embrace.

Weiss looks at Jaune, her thoughts about how strong the boy she was staring at in her mind. _'With aura reserves that high he's easily B-class material... maybe even A-class. But how can he be this strong…?'_

As Jaune approaches the sisters Yang lets go of Ruby. "Thank you for helping my sister." Yang said in gratitude.

Jaune shakes his head no "There's no reason to thank me. I didn't do anything helpful." Jaune glanced over at Weiss as he said what he had. "You should be thanking her."

Though she agreed with Jaune, she couldn't help but thank the fellow blond. "But you still tried to help her." She looks down on the ground. "Unlike me, who couldn't do anything for my sister. She was in danger and I couldn't do anything."

Jaune has a sad smile, knowing that Yang was deeply hurt. "If you're worried about being a terrible sister then don't. I can tell that you deeply love your sister and that she loves you. That alone makes you a great sister."

Ruby tugs on Yang's shirt. "He's right Yang. You are a great sister."

Yang has a wide smile and wraps her arms around the two. "Thanks you guys!" She looks at Jaune and whispers to him. "You really know how to charm a girl." She lets go them getting prepared to leave the temple.

Jaune stood there perplexed _'Charm a girl? What does she mean?'_

Jaune removes the thought. There were more pressing matters to attend to. "Alright everyone, it's time we leave. Any pair that doesn't have a relic, grab one now! We can't waste anymore time!"

"I agree, there's no need to dilly-dallying, our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said in agreement.

Ruby joined in "They're right, our objective is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

Jaune smiles. "Run and live…" Jaune walks over to Ruby, standing by her side while placing his hand on her shoulder. "…that's an idea I think we can all get behind on."

Jaune walks over to the relics and takes the gold rook. Ruby follows and takes the gold knight. They look at each other and smile at one another.

"Time we left." Ren said, his automatic pistols, StormFlower ready for combat.

* * *

The group is heading out of the forest and into another abandoned series of structures as the Nevermore follows them from the air. They spread out when it passes above, concealing themselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as the large crow type Grimm perches on a high column and caws.

Yang glares at the Nevermore. "Well that's great."

Behind them trees were knocked aside the Death Stalker bursting into the scene. It charges towards them while screeching.

"Everyone run!" Jaune ordered. The group emerges from their hiding spots and causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren ordered as they were rushing out of cover.

Nora obliges, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore, and causing it to retreat. She is unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren perform a cross-slash with their Gambol Shroud and StormFlower against its shell. Weiss lands next to Nora so she can create a jumping platform beneath them and leap to safety while Blake and Ren are now being chased.

As Jaune and the others were running on the stone bridge Jaune halts his retreat. He aims Ebony and Ivory, the scrollwork engravings shining a brilliant white light. The twin pistols start firing white shots that have a low rate of fire at the Death Stalker that pierces the bone plating of the monster.

"Go, I'll cover you!" Pyrrha stops running and gets out her hunting rifle Miló, firing red shots allowing Jaune to fall back. After he runs pass her Ren jumps next to her, his green blasts joining Pyrrha's scarlet blasts for a second until the creature reaches them and tries to swipe, prompting the group to run again.

The eight race over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the Nevermore closing in on them until it uses its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns and Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the Death Stalker.

Jaune runs to the edge of the break in the bridge, his features filled with worry. "We need to get over there! They need help!"

Nora rushes next to Jaune, with a look of determination. "Let's do this!"

Jaune looks down at the misty abyss. "Nora, can you make that jump?"

Nora smiles diabolically at him, laughing as she knocks him back, turns her weapon to its full-length hammer form, and jumps to the edge of the bridge.

He notices what Nora was about to do. "Nora wait, I can get there…" Too late, she slams the hammer into the bridge and throws Jaune to the other side. As he's sent flying her quickly turns his body around and lands in a crouched position.

Nora places one foot on the hammer and fires it off the collapsing section of bridge, launching her to slam her weapon in the center of the Death Stalker's skull. She fires it just as the stinger comes down to get her, and blasts back again to avoid its reach, accidentally knocking into Blake and making her fall from the edge.

As the bow wearing girl falls, she sees the Nevermore above her and launches her whip so the gun's blade sinks into the edge of the bridge, circling around and leaping onto the aerial Grimm's back. She dashes all over its body, slashing the entire time, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby, then going over to Yang and Weiss.

As Jaune gets up he notices the instability of the bridge, deducing that it will collapse in moments.

"We gotta move!" They rush towards the Death Stalker. As Jaune was running he unsheathes Dark Repulser.

The Death Stalker aims a claw at Pyrrha, but she deflects it with her bronze shield and slashes it with her blade. The scorpion recoils and swipes at her with its other claw, but Jaune is there to deflect it with his sword, knocking it back so Pyrrha can leap over and attack its face, thus exposing the creature's face. Ren charges through the opening, shooting at the Grimm as it tries to stab him with its stinger. Ren slightly evades and leaps onto the Grimm's stinger, proceeding to use StormFlower to shoot the joint between the stinger and the tail.

Nora then steps forward, shoots at the large creature with her grenade launcher, but the Death Stalker crosses its armored pincers in front of itself, making the grenades ineffective while knocking both Jaune and Pyrrha back. As it opens up its pincers again, Pyrrha immediately uses the opening to throw her spear straight into one of the scorpion's eyes, which subsequently causes the Death Stalker to fling Ren off its tail as it thrashes around, sending him flying into the side of a stone block hard and falls to the ground, not getting back up.

"Ren!" Nora shouted in dismay.

Despite the loss of Ren, Jaune stays level headed and notices that the Death Stalker's stinger his hanging loosely.

"Pyrrha!" Said girl follows his gaze.

"Done!" She replied, as she throws her shield like a boomerang at the stinger, severing it and causing it to fall and embed itself into creature's own head. The shield bounces off a pillar and flies back toward Pyrrha before attaching itself to her arm.

"Nora, nail it!" He ordered.

"Heads up!" She jumps on Akoúo, Pyrrha leaps as Nora aims her blast down to give herself a maximum lift, and she smiles the entire way up before twirling down. As she begins to fall, Nora sends herself shooting downwards with the help of her weapon, and nails the stinger further into the creature. The force of the blow causes the bridge to tip toward the Death Stalker, launching the rest of the party into the air toward stable ground as Nora "shoots" herself off the Death Stalker's head, causing it to fall into the abyss below along with the remnants of the bridge.

Jaune lands in a crouched position before standing back up, Nora lands on her bottom, Pyrrha manages a crouched pose, and Ren simply walks over to them, panting and groaning until he collapses.

But as Ren was about to fall, Jaune rushes over and catches him, placing the exhausted martial artist's arm around his neck. "You okay?"

Though the boy in question was ready to take a long nap he finds the strength to answer the kind blond. "Yeah, thanks for the help."

Jaune (while assisting Ren) and the others look on as the four girls fight the Nevermore. It was incredible, each one showing remarkable combat prowess.

"Shouldn't you help them Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, worried about her fellow classmates.

Yang begins firing multiple shots at the Nevermore, gaining its attention. When it gets close enough and opens its mouth, Yang leaps and lands in its open mouth. Holding its beak open with one hand, she unleashes a barrage of shots into the creature's mouth. Once the Grimm starts to lose its balance, she leaps off as the bird continues forward and crashes into the Cliffside.

Jaune smiles "I think they've got it handled."

Despite Yang's attempts, the Nevermore recovers quickly, and Yang smiles as she spots Ruby and Blake on the broken columns with Weiss rushing to the battle. Yang passes her while the Nevermore starts to fly back up, but Weiss hops over to the ruin it's lifting off of and freezes the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck in the same spot despite its flapping. Weiss back-flips into a snowflake-circle jump and lands on the other side, running to the group.

Blake fires the pistol portion of Gambol Shroud over to Yang, and the two tighten it between the columns so Ruby can jump on the center with Crescent Rose and bend it back into Weiss' black glyph, right next to the caster.

"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss said ready to catapult Ruby into the air.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, completely serious about the question.

Weiss grins "Hmm! Can I!" Weiss said confidently.

A second passes

"Can't?"

"OF COURSE I CAN!"

Ruby looks forward and pumps Crescent Rose as Weiss turns the circle from black to red and releases Ruby at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracks, rose petals flying from her ascent. With each new shot, she gets closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe catches the Nevermore's neck in its blade and causes them both to fall to the cliff wall.

Weiss raises her sword and creates a series of white glyphs that run up the length of the cliff, allowing Ruby to maintain footing on the vertical surface and dashes through by firing the entire way up.

Yang, Blake, and an exhausted Weiss watch her climb up with the bird in her grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reaches the top of the cliff, circles up, fires one last shot, and rends the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.

She lands beside the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore falls lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while the girls and, farther away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watch in amazement.

Yang smiles "Well… that was a thing."

Jaune smiles, "Excellently done, Ruby."

They all nod in agreement.

Jaune looks back at his team. "Come on, let's go meet up with the others."

The eight students meet up at the center of the summit. The platform they were on only had the one exit, which was a stone bridge with rows of stone columns. Yang was hugging Ruby in congratulations. Blake was watching the two sisters, proud of the fact that they defeated the Nevermore. Weiss though exhausted was smiling at their success.

Jaune and his team greeted them. "That was impressive. The four of you make a great team."

Pyrrha lightly punches his shoulder, causing him to be knocked back, but he maintained his balance. Pyrrha laughs "We make a great team too you know."

Ren nods in agreement.

Nora… well she definitely agreed. "You bet we do, Jaune was like "Pyrrha!"

Nora pretends to throw a spear.

"And then he said, "Nora, nail it." And I did nail it! It was so much fun!" As Nora was talking she was striking other various poses.

"Nora…" Ren said getting the said girl's attention.

"Yes Ren!"

"I think they get it."

Nora salutes "Okay then."

They all laugh, enjoying how bubbly the girl in pink was.

Ruby calms her laughing so she could speak. "I wish all eight of us could be on a team."

Jaune walks up to the short statured girl. He places his gentle hand on her head. "Remember our promise?"

Ruby nods, smiling due to the recent memory. "You bet I do."

Nora raises her hand. "I have an idea. We can bribe the headmaster!"

Jaune pales at her suggestion. "I don't think that would work."

Nora thinks about what else she could do. Then a stroke of 'genius' hits her. "Oh, we'll break his legs!"

Jaune deadpans "That definitely won't work."

Once again Ren intervenes, his eyes void of any energy or life. "Sorry but can we go now. Because…" He yawns, shadows now under his eyes. "I have a date with the love of my life after initiation and I'd rather not miss it." Everyone save for Nora looks at Ren with a puzzled expression not knowing what he was talking about. "My bed. I'm referring to my bed."

"Ohhhhhh" The gang said in unison.

They comply with their sleep deprived friend and make their way back to Beacon.

* * *

Jaune and the others are now at the entrance where the relics are located. All of the relics were gone.

"It looks like the other students were able to get the remaining relics." Jaune deduced.

The blond clad in black suddenly feels an arm around his neck, pulling him down to the owner of the strong grasp. His head hits something incredibly soft. He looks straight at the wonderful cushion and to his surprise it was the right asset of Yang Xiao Long.

"Hey Hotstuff! Why don't we fly on ahead?!"

Though he was embarrassed beyond belief, his scarlet face being evidence enough, he responds to the source of his uneasiness.

"Well… you see I can only carry one or two of you."

Yang smirks seductively at the fellow blond. "Then maybe you and I can scout ahead." She winks at the clueless assassin, suggesting far more inappropriate activities.

Not getting what she was implying he responds with a serious answer. "Wouldn't it make more sense if I went alone then?"

"But where's the fun in that?" She smoothly responded.

"Um guys…" The only other male interjected.

The two blonds look at the sleep loving martial artist.

Next to Ren were two very annoyed red wearing girls. Ruby and Pyrrha have innocent yet terrifying smiles.

"My dear sister Yang. Maybe you should remove yourself from my friend."

"I think that would be for the best as well." Pyrrha added, her terrifying smile instilling fear to those around her.

As Yang was going to cleverly retort the entire group hear a screeching roar. It was high pitched, the high frequency of the sound waves piercing their eardrums. This causes Yang to remove her hold on Jaune in favor of covering her ears. The rest of the group follows her actions.

The screeching stops though. But from the forest, trees began falling one after another until finally, dozens of trees were blown away by an invisible force. A single tree bursts towards the group.

The first victim was going to be Blake. The tree trunk was only inches away from her. However, the trunk is sliced in half which avoids her and the others.

Jaune was standing in front of Blake, his back turned towards her with Dark Repulser in hand.

From the ruined forestry a single silhouette the size of any normal person can be made out. Jaune narrows his eyes trying to get a better look at it.

The figure walks forward, revealing not who. But **what** it was.

In front of the ruined forestry was a creature of Grimm in the shape of a human. The creature itself was black, but it had a white exoskeleton on different parts of its body. The face of the creature was a white skull with two long white horns that were pointed forward for impaling. Its eyes were blood red. The white boned shoulder blades were curved up to a point. The creature only had three toes. On the creature's bone plating were red markings that resemble tribal tattoos.

It roars once again the bloodlust from the creature being evoked from the creature. The roar causes fierce winds to blow at the young students.

Jaune looks at the creature, eyes widen. "That's a Death Bringer." The other students were also terrified. For the creature they were laying eyes on was among the highest tier of Grimm. "Why is it here? Why would an A-class Grimm be here?"

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES: VERY IMPORTANT MUST READ!

So in regards to what Jaune's outfit will be I have decided to keep his black attire. I know it was a tie but for the most of the time of the poll Jaune's new outfit was always in the lead. Also I was going to close the poll sooner but I was preoccupied with other things and because of that it gave Jaune's original outfit time to get more votes.

Also I've decided to do something awesome. But first, a story, a tale of a young… handsome man… me.

As I was making OCs for the Jaeger Program I came to the conclusion that they were all incredibly awesome… except for one of them. I won't go into detail but he wasn't fleshed out well.

Then it occurred to me. Why don't I let one of you make an OC for me!

So if you want to make an OC for this story then pm me. If I think your OC would be perfect for the Jaeger Program then I'll choose him/her. If you want your OC in the story then I need you to tell me everything that is listed below.

Name:

Appearance:

Weapon(s):

Semblance:

Back story (Must include how Gilbert met you):

Personality:

There's something else I want to share as well. There is a roleplay forum with a wide variety of anime for you to rp in. But what I really want to tell you all is the fact that there will be a RWBY roleplay. If you want to roleplay with me just go to my profile and click on the link for the forum. But before you can start roleplaying you have to agree to the terms of the forum. Just go to rules and then agree with the terms. After that go to request and ask for RWBY. Though it's apparently coming out soon they're late. The forum was supposed to be released last Wednesday but it's still not up. So by requesting a roleplay for RWBY it might get them to hurry up with releasing the forum.

One last thing about the RWBY roleplay… Jaune and Professor Ozpin are mine so if you don't want to get on my bad side then I suggest you get a different character (: have a wonderful day.

Oh and remember to give this story a favorite or a follow if and only if you deem this story worthy. If you believe this story is lacking in any aspect then please tell me. I actually appreciate harsh criticism because it informs me of my mistakes which I greatly appreciate. Don't get me wrong I love receiving praise but I appreciate criticism more.

Now with all that said I hope you all have a wonderful day/night.


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